Just Won't Die 14: Naruto
by OneShot
Summary: Ranma ends up in the Naruto Universe where he befriends a young boy named Naruto.   Note: This was written WAAAY before even the Akatsuki were revealed to readers in the manga. This was written shortly after the manga had concluded the Chuunin Exam!


Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Just Won't Die 13: Naruto

Two combatants faced one another.  
They were standing in the middle of a the battle ground of a circular open-  
roof stadium. Thousands of people were sitting in the stands, watching the two of them intently, awaiting for either one of them to make the next move.  
Both combatants were very young, somewhere in their early teens. Standing near them was an man wearing blue, the referee overseeing the match.  
One combatant wore a mostly-orange outfit and had spiked blond hair. He went by the name Naruto.  
The other was clad in an off-white outfit and wore what looked like bandages around his right arm and leg. He went by the name Neji.  
The one named Naruto looked badly hurt as he struggled to stay standing. Naruto held his hands up by his face as if getting into a meditative pose.  
"I've hit all your Tenketsu points," Neji smirked, "You won't be able to use your chakra. It's useless,"  
If one looked at Naruto, it looked as if he was trying to gather ki and channel it through his body. In that world, chakra and ki was similar. Where chakra came from within, ki came from within and without. "Why do you fight against your fate that hard?" Neji asked.  
"Because, you called me a drop out!" Naruto replied.  
"Ahhhhhh!" Naruto let out a battle cry as he gathered as much energy into his body as possible, An orange aura started to form around him, surrounding him and enveloping him. The boy named Neji's eyes widened in absolute shock at what he was seeing. This was because he truly believed his opponent could no longer channel energy, him having struck Naruto's Tenketsu points which was used to channel energy in the first place.  
The referee standing near both boys took a step back, shocked at what the young boy was cable of.  
Dust flew everywhere as Naruto's body continued to absorb energy. Neji brought his arms up in front of himself to protect himself from the tiny rocks swirling about in that whirlwind of energy surrounding Naruto, unmoving as he continued to watch in surprise.  
All of a sudden, a bright light formed in front of Naruto. The light was so bright that everyone in the stands including the two combatants instinctively shielded their eyes from its brilliance.  
When the light disappeared, Ranma stood between both young combatants. It just so happened that that particular point in time was when Ranma appeared on that world. "I have arrived!" Ranma shouted in triumph, throwing both hands up in the air.  
In one of his hands was the box that he had used to send him to this world. After having gotten rid of Happousai, sealing him up in a cave and placing wards on it that would prevent the lech from getting out, Ranma had made his way to Joketsuzoku where he retrieved the divine object that existed on that world for him to eventually find after the Nerima Massacre. Since the Nerima Massacre was never going to occur, that didn't mean Ranma shouldn't use the object to his advantage.  
At that very moment, he was very glad that the box had worked. Unfortunately for him, it didn't send him to the world he had expected, the world of 'Angels and Evangelions' as he liked to refer to it.  
There was a reason why Ranma had appeared at that world. It wasn't because the young boy had somehow summoned him there. It wasn't because the energy the boy was channeling had somehow drawn Ranma to that world. It was because Ranma had forgotten something very important.  
He had forgotten that Urd, during the time she was God, as a preventative measure against someone causing Third Impact on that world and assuming the role of God and overthrowing her, had sealed up the 'World of Angels and Evangelions'. The pathway to that world no longer existed. No one can go to or leave that world, any versions of that world.  
No one had really paid much attention to her when she mentioned that, not even Ranma. That was why Ranma was at that world, because the world he was trying to get to's path was sealed and Urd had, purely by random, created a path to this world instead in its place. "Where the hell am I?" Ranma asked himself, looking around. He noticed that there was a young boy in orange near him, sitting on the ground, staring up at him in shock. Ranma's entrance into the world had surprised Naruto so much that he stepped backwards and tripped over his own feet and fell down onto his backside.  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a moment, not recognizing him. Noticing the shocked look in the young boy's face, Ranma realized that Naruto must have seen his entrance into this world.  
"Sorry, kid, didn't mean to surprise you like that," Ranma smiled.  
He looked around curiously, wondering where he was. He ascertained that he was standing in the middle of some kind of stadium, as if he had appeared at the most inappropriate time, during some kind of event.  
He shrugged. It couldn't be helped.  
Looking around some more, he noticed Neji standing nearby, regarding him intently through pupil-less eyes. He noticed those bandages on the boy's right arm and leg. He wondered if that was some kind of fashion statement that boy was making but didn't think much about it. What was Ranma to say since he wore his hairstyle in a pig-tail.  
Ranma noticed that something seemed wrong, that he was not on the world where he had expected to appear. He could sense it. There was a feeling of ki floating about that was not all that evident in the other world.  
Sensing the ki all about, he looked toward the young boy.  
"You!" Ranma said in surprise, "You're the one that's generating all that ki!"  
Naruto said nothing, still in a state of shock.  
"Good job," Ranma smiled, proud of the kid. For a kid to be able to generate that much ki, he must be an extremely dedicated martial artist. He liked the kid already. He liked anyone that was dedicated to martial arts. Actually, that was untrue. He didn't like Ryoga all that much and he was every bit as dedicated to martial arts as Ranma.  
"What form of summoning is this?" Ranma heard Neji said in surprise, standing in a very defensive stance, ready for anything.  
Naruto managed to gather his bearings. His eyes widened as he realized something, that he had somehow inadvertently summoned someone. Quickly hopping to his feet, Naruto realized the battle was still going on.  
Naruto shouted toward Ranma while pointing toward Neji, "I'm your Master. I have summoned you here to do my bidding. I command you to defeat my opponent," Ranma looked at Naruto, "Huh?"  
"I'm your master!" Naruto said, "I command you to defeat Neji,"  
Ranma looked at Naruto. He looked at the young boy Naruto was pointing to and then back at Naruto.  
Ranma burst out laughing, clutching at his stomach.  
"So funny!" Ranma continued laughing, "My sides hurt!"  
Naruto shouted toward the sky, "Argh! First that giant frog! Now this guy! How come no one wants to listen to me after I summon them?"  
"What's going on here?" Ranma asked curiously, "Did I interrupt some kinda fight? If I did, I'm really sorry,"  
"Of course!" Naruto shouted, "We're in the middle of a fight! I summoned you to help me!" Naruto had no idea how he had summoned Ranma but didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, "You're supposed to do as I tell you!"  
Ranma made a shooing motion toward Naruto, "Shoo. Shoo. Go away,"  
Neji smirked, "I have no idea you've managed to learn summoning techniques. It seems like I've underestimated you. Well, even though it seems like you can summon, it seems like you can control your summons," Neji continued to smirk, making a quick gesture toward Ranma.  
Naruto turned around to look at Ranma and noticed Ranma was walking in the direction of a door that exited the stadium.  
"Ah!" Naruto shouted, running after Ranma, "Where do you think you're going! I summoned you! You can't leave me hanging like that!" Ranma turned around to face Naruto, "What the heck are you talking about, kid? You didn't summon me,"  
Naruto said, "My name's Naruto, not 'kid',"  
Ranma regarded the kid for a moment. He started laughing as he rubbed the top of Naruto's head, "You're funny, kid. I mean, Naruto. I like you. Take care," Ranma sensed several incoming projectiles aimed straight toward Naruto and caught it. He glanced at Naruto and noticed he had his arms up protecting his face which made Ranma realize that the young boy seemed to be very skilled in martial arts to be able to notice the attack. Of course, it seemed like Naruto was too inexperienced to know how to react to it yet.  
Ranma looked down in his hands and realized he had caught three shurikens, all three thrown by Neji. He glanced toward Neji and noticed a determined look on his face. Neji, having realized that Naruto had no control over his summons and decided he should end the match by attacking Naruto directly. However, he didn't expect the summon to protect Naruto.  
"It seems like your summons is willing to help you," Neji spat in annoyance. He was using the Byakugan, a special technique from bloodline, that allowed him to observe the flow of energy coursing through Ranma's body.  
"Who is that guy that Naruto summoned?" Neji asked himself, noticing the outline of Ranma's body and the flow of energy going into Ranma. From Neji's point of view, all he saw as an outline of Ranma's body. However, what he saw he couldn't understand. He had expected to see nothing more than an image of the 'charka' flowing through Ranma's body like that of a circulatory system. That was how everyone's chakra could be seen. Instead, Neji saw nothing but chakra. All he saw was an outline of Ranma's body filled with chakra, not a single indication of a system for it to flow through. It was as if there was no set path for the chakra to flow through Ranma's body.  
And what surprised Neji even more was that the chakra wasn't contained to just the outline of Ranma's body. He also saw chakra from everywhere as it seemed to flow into Ranma's body, as if the body was absorbing chakra.  
"Impossible!" Neji said. How was that possible? Chakra came from within. From what he saw of Ranma, it seemed like it came from without. What really shocked him was that if that was true, then the person Naruto had summoned had an unlimited supply of chakra, able to absorb it from his surroundings instead of having to generate it from within.  
Neji's lips became a thin line. How was he to battle against someone who had an unlimited supply of chakra? Although confident in his abilities, Neji wasn't an idiot. His skills lied in closing off chakra openings in a person's body and manipulating his person's chakra. How would he be able to battle someone who could generate chakra out of every portion of his body?  
Neji glanced toward the stands where he noticed someone looking every bit as shocked. There was a man in the audience that shared the same bloodline as Neji that was able to see the flow of chakra as well. Many audience members were staring at astonishment at the turn of events, shocked at how Naruto, a fledgling ninja, could use an advanced technique such as summoning.  
Ranma seemed oblivious to all of this.  
"Kids shouldn't play with sharp things," he tossed the three shurikens back and Neji, striking the ground by his feet. He didn't know if the young boy would be able to catch it but didn't want to risk finding out that he couldn't. He didn't want to accidentally hurt Neji.  
"Who are you?" Neji asked, wondering what kind of being Naruto had summoned, "I am Hyuuga Neji,"  
"Ranma Saotome," Ranma answered.  
"I don't wish to fight with you," Neji said, wondering if diplomacy would work, "I don't know how Naruto managed to summon you. My fight is with Naruto,"  
Neji noticed Ranma seemed to have no inclination to listening to Naruto's command. He knew something about summoning, that for a summoned entity to listen and follow a summoner's commands, the summoner himself needed to be strong enough to earn some for of respect so that the summoned would choose to follow orders.  
Ranma glanced toward Naruto and noticed the young boy was breathing heavily. He had no idea what Naruto had been through but had a funny feeling that he was the underdog in this fight. He had trouble remaining standing, his legs buckling as they struggled to keep Naruto standing.  
Naruto had expended so much chakra before that he was at the brink of exhaustion. He had wanted to summon his last remaining chakra to attack Neji all-out but had somehow wasted all of it summoning someone that didn't seem to want to help him out.  
"Help me," Naruto said in a weak voice.  
Ranma regarded the boy for a moment. There was something about Naruto he liked. He noticed the kid had a lot of spunk and heart. Heck, it was a surprise how someone in bad a shape as he was right now could remain standing.  
"Please," Naruto said, knowing that the person standing before him was his last trump card. Ranma thought about it for a moment. He glanced toward Neji for a moment before turning back to Naruto.  
"Fine. I'll help out," Ranma smirked, "Only because I like you,"  
Ranma turned toward Neji, a smirk on his lips. He knew Neji was a powerful martial artist and was curious as to just how good a young boy like he could possibly be. He had no intention of hurting the boy. He would go easy on him.  
Ranma got into a battle stance. Behind him, the sound of Naruto could be heard as he fell to the ground, exhausted, unable to move, his body no longer able to listen to him.  
He made a gesture for Neji to attack him.  
"No hard feelings, kid, but it looks like I'm gonna be your opponent,"

Unable to movie, Naruto looked up at the sky.  
"The winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" the referee called out loudly so that everyone in the stadium could hear, gesturing toward the unconscious Naruto lying in the middle of the field.  
Naruto was laying on his back, drifting in an out of unconsciousness. Because he was the last remaining fighter conscious in the battle, the win was his.  
The stadium broke out in cheer for Naruto, surprised at how an underdog like Naruto had managed to defeat a powerful opponent like Neji in battle. Naruto was considered the winner because, despite being unconscious, he had managed to use his greatest technique and summon Ranma to finish Neji off. Extremely hard to control, summons were considered great 'weapons' should the summoner be able to control it. Because summons were considered a weapon in the battle, there were no objections to Ranma taking part in the fight. This was because everyone observing considered him a 'weapon' of Naruto's.  
Naruto tried to sit upright but was too hurt to do so. His body ached intensely and refused to move. He couldn't believe he was still conscious. Of course, he forced himself to remain conscious so that he would not lose the match. Ranma walked up to where he lay and looked down at him, a smirk on his face.  
"Wow, you're still conscious," Ranma said, impressed, "You're one tough little kid, aren't ya,"  
Naruto glanced toward Ranma's arm where he saw an unconscious Neji tucked under it. Barely able to move, all Naruto could do was give Ranma a thumbs up and smile.  
Ranma smiled at Naruto before he turned his attention onto the referee that was standing nearby.  
"Is there a hospital around here?" he asked, "I'll take him there,"  
Ranma noticed that Naruto was hurt and figured he should help the kid out and bring him to a hospital or such. He was not a bad guy that he would leave some kid in need of medical help unattended.  
"Um, don't worry, I will take him to the infirmary," the referee said, offering to take Naruto for him. "Here, you should just find this kid a bed," Ranma handed Neji to the referee, "He's not hurt but he won't be waking up for several hours. I put him to sleep,"  
"Okay," the man said.  
Ranma cast Neji a look of respect at how good a martial artist the young boy was as he watched the referee carry both Neji and Naruto off the open field.  
Neji had managed to surprise him, dodging several of his half-heart attempts at attacking him. Before long, Ranma got bored and used some of his real speed to get in close enough to press Neji's sleep pressure points and end the match peacefully.  
"What did I popped in on?" Ranma asked the referee, glancing around at the silent spectators in the stands. They were all talking to one another as they tried to figure out what had just happened.  
"The Chuunin selection tournament," the man answered, "It's a tournament to decide which Genin participants will become given the rank of Chuunin,"  
"Chuunin? Genin?" Ranma asked, "Whatever. I don't really care. It's none of my business," Handing the sleeping Neji to the referee, Ranma added, "This Neji kid's pretty good. He's got a lot of potential to become an excellent martial artist. I dunno about Naruto because I didn't see him fight but it seems like he's got potential to,"  
"Who are you?" the referee asked, "I'm aware of summonings, but I've never ever seen humans summoned before,"  
Ranma asked, "How come you keep thinking I was summoned here? I'm not some kind Angel or nothing,"  
"Angel?" the man asked.  
"Nevermind," he said, "Anyway, where am I? I don't recognize this place,"  
"This is Hidden Leaf Village," the referee said, "You're in the Fight Stadium,"  
Ranma muttered, "Gee, that sure helps. Say, you wouldn't happen to know where I can find this thing called the nanban mirror, would you?"  
The man shook his head, "I've never heard of it before,"  
Ranma sighed. How come he wasn't surprised? Things always seemed to work out that way. How come things couldn't turn out nice and easy? Why couldn't it be something like 'Yes, you can buy one at the convenience store down the street'?  
Not knowing if the nanban mirror existed on that world, and that perhaps the guy before him simply wasn't aware of its existence, perhaps he needed to know the right people to ask.  
"Do you know of anybody that might know?" Ranma asked, "You not knowing doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Perhaps you can suggest someone to me that might know,"  
The man said, "Well, the Hokage might be able to answer your question,"  
"Who's the Hokage?" Ranma asked.  
The man made a gesture toward an old man sitting in a chair in the middle of a large booth located about the stands. The booth looked like it was for important people because it gave the best vantage point for observing whatever events that took place in the stadium.  
"Thanks, I'll go ask him," Ranma said.  
Not knowing anything about the Hokage and that there have been many rivaling villages that wanted to have the Hokage assassinated, Ranma jumping toward the booth where the Hokage was seemed like a hostile move.  
Just as Ranma had managed to step into the booth via front opening overlooking the entire stadium, several puffs of smoke suddenly appeared from out of nowhere surrounding Ranma.  
"What the?" Ranma asked.  
All of a sudden, shadows appeared from out of the smoke as they dashed at him, and grabbed Ranma, tackling him to the ground. Rolling around a few times, Ranma suddenly found himself lying flat on stomach in a prostrated position.  
There were nine people kneeling over him. Two held his wrists, two held his elbows, two held his shoulders, two held his ankles, and two held his thighs. Ranma noticed that eight of them were dressed in dark clothes and wore animal masks. The ninth one didn't wear masks. He had thick eyebrows and a black bowl-  
cut hairstyle.  
"Kinda going overboard, aren't we?" Ranma smirked.  
"Who are you?" the ninja with the bowl-cut asked, "We don't take kindly to assassination attempts,"  
"Please, let me go," Ranma said politely, "This is all a misunderstanding. I also don't like being in the prostrated position," "Who are you?" the guy asked again.  
"Let me go," Ranma found himself getting angry, "I'll ask nicely one more time,"  
"Let him go," came a voice.  
Ranma suddenly felt all the hands release their hold on him.  
He got up to his feet as he dusted his clothes. Looking up, he found himself looking toward an old man sitting in a chair in front of him. The old man was the Hokage that the referee had gestured to before.  
"Your minions seem to jump to conclusions pretty quickly," Ranma said, "I wasn't here to assassinate you,"  
"Minions?" the bowl-cut man said, "You think someone as cool as myself, the amazing Gai am not a minion? That's amusing,"  
"Who are you?" the Hokage asked, his voice clam but cautious.  
Ranma glanced in the direction of the man sitting next to the Hokage. He noticed the man was dressed in similar fashion as the old man but his face was covered by a veil, only his eyes visible. They made a brief moment of eye contact.  
"How do you do?" Ranma nodded toward the man. The man said nothing, turning his gaze away to look forward and out the booth and down toward the stadium below.  
"Not all that talkative, huh?" Ranma said, turning his gaze back toward the Hokage, "Anyway, I'm not here to assassinate you if that's what you're worried about. I'd just like to ask for your help,"  
"Help?" the Hokage asked.  
"Yeah," he said, "I was wondering if you know of this thing called the nanban mirror,"  
"Nanban mirror?" the Hokage asked, "I've never heard of it before,"  
"It might not be called that around here," Ranma said, "It's this small hand-

held mirror that allows you to teleport anywhere you want. All you need is a teardrop to activate it,"  
The Hokage looked at Ranma for a moment but shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I've never heard of something like that before. I've never even heard of an object that exists that would do something like that,"  
Ranma regarded the old man for a moment, looking into his eyes.  
"Well, it seems like you're telling the truth," Ranma said, sighing, "Damn,"  
"Are you in trouble or something?" the Hokage asked.  
"Nah," Ranma shook his head, "At least not yet. Would you happen to know of a way to open up portals?"  
"Portals?" the Hokage asked, "Well, there might be a place where you can check out,"  
"Really? Where? What place?" Ranma seemed hopeful.  
"There's a village called the Hidden Mist Village located east of here, in the Wave Country," the Hokage said, "The Wave Country is a tiny island. The only way you can get there is by crossing The Great Naruto Bridge,"  
"The Great Naruto Bridge?" Ranma asked, "Does it have anything to do with that boy named Naruto?"  
"The bridge was named by a man named Tazuna," the Hokage continued, "He built it to connected The Wave Country with the mainland. Naruto was one of the members of the team that saw to it that the bridge was built,"  
"What about this village you speak of?" Ranma asked.  
The Hokage said, "There's an information guild located in that village where you might be able to find out what you need to know. The village specializes in exports and imports so many people from all over the mainland visit that village. It is the best place to go to get some information,"  
"An information guild, huh?" Ranma said, "You think they might know?"  
The Hokage shook his head, "There is no telling. However, I believe it's a good place to start,"  
Ranma smiled, "Thanks. I really appreciate it,"  
The Hokage regarded Ranma intently.  
"What?" Ranma asked, "Do I have something on my face?"  
"You are unlike any kind of summon I have ever seen," the Hokage said, "You seem to stay around far longer than need be. You have defeated Naruto's opponent for him and I figure you would have gone back,"  
"Gone back?" Ranma asked, "Gone back where?"  
"Back you your realm," the Hokage state.  
"Why do you think I'm looking for the nanban mirror?" Ranma asked, "So I can go back home. And what makes you think I'm some kind of summon?" "That's interesting," the Hokage stated, "You can be summoned to this world but you can't go back? I never knew something like this could happen,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "How come I have the funny feeling we're speaking on two different wavelengths? I'm not a summon or familiar or minion that that little Naruto conjured. It's purely coincidental,"  
"Most interesting," the man with the bowl-cut that called himself Gai had said, "He doesn't realize he's a summon,"  
"Argh!" Ranma threw his hands up in the air, in annoyance, "You know what? I don't care. I don't need to prove nothing to no one,"  
The sudden movement made everyone standing around think it was a hostile movement toward the Hokage. They quickly bumrushed Ranma, intent on taking him down and preventing him from attacking the Hokage.  
Instantly, Ranma was wrestled to the ground.  
"Goddamn, I'm not an assassin!" Ranma said, finding himself prostrated on the floor once again, "If you minions think I'm some kinda goddamn summons that Naruto conjured, then why do you think I'm an assassin as well?"  
Annoyed, Ranma rolled around while on the floor, throwing off everyone trying to hold him down. With a quick rising whirlwind rising kick, he swept all but one of his opponents off their feet, sending them falling down on to floor.  
The one that managed to dodge his rising kick was the bowl-haired guy that wasn't wearing an animal mask like all the others.  
"It seems like you're better than the others," Ranma smirked.  
"Of course," the man laughed, "A simple attack like that would not be effective in someone like myself, the amazing Gai as everyone refers to me," Ranma regarded the man with the bowl-cut that had called himself Gai.  
"Enough," came the Hokage's voice, "Gai, stand down,"  
Gai could be seen gritting his teeth before straighten up and bowing toward the Hokage and stepping off to the side.  
Ranma smirked.  
"I apologize for the Anbu and Gai," the Hokage said, "I sense no hostile intentions coming from you. A person of your character can't possibly be an assassin," The Anbu were the term used when referring to those eight people wearing the animal masks. Ranma dusted himself again as he got back up to his feet, "It's okay. It's all a misunderstanding. People do do that from time to time, jump to conclusions. However, that's strike two for the gang. If they do it a third time, I will fight back,"  
He said that in a very calm and collected voice. He said so matter-of-factly, in a tone someone would say when giving the weather.  
"Heh, 'do do'," Ranma snickered at the word. Unfortunately, him doing so basically messed up whatever 'cool' factor there was in him basically warning everyone that he would fight back.  
Ranma bowed politely toward the Hokage, "Thanks for the information. I'm gonna get going now. It was nice meeting you,"  
"Would you like to stay and watch?" the Hokage asked, "I believe you might find it entertaining,"  
"Stay and watch what?" Ranma asked.  
"The Chuunin Selection Tournament," the Hokage answered, "It is a tournament where Genins fight one another to see whether or not they can move up to the rank of Chuunin,"  
"It's like that Naruto and Neji fight?" Ranma asked.  
The Hokage nodded.  
Ranma thought about it for a moment, scratching his chin.  
After a minute of contemplating, he then shrugged.  
He might as well. He had just arrived on this world and he was in no rush to get home. It wasn't as if time was against him. Sure, he was starting to feel a bit homesick and kind of wanted to go home, that that didn't mean he couldn't stay around and see how this world worked for a bit.  
"Okay, I'll stay and watch,"  
"What's going on? Hurry up and start the next mach!"  
"How long are you going to keep us waiting?"  
"We want to see the next match start!"  
Those were some of the chants Ranma was hearing as he was walking down a corridor that lead to the stands. Not allowed to observe from the booth, he had to watch the tournament from the stands like everyone else.  
Stepping through the opening, Ranma saw several young boys and a young girl standing by a railing of a balcony that overlooked the stadium grounds. Their backs were toward him, everyone completely unaware of him.  
Looking over to the left, he saw a pair of stairs that led down which seemed to lead to the stadium grounds. To the right, Ranma noticed a pathway that led to the stands where the audience sat.  
"Ah, these kids are the combatants," Ranma said to himself, noticing that they all seemed to be the same age as those Naruto and Neji boys.  
He regarded the group of kids for a moment. They all looked like extraordinary children, possessing the potential to become extraordinary adults.  
"That boy's got power," Ranma said to himself as he looked over toward a red-  
haired boy that seemed to be carrying a very large gourd slung over his back. The boy Ranma was referring to was a boy named Gaara.  
"Whoever his opponent is, if they're equal in skill, that's gonna be an interesting fight to watch," Ranma smirked. He looked down the row of children standing about and became very surprised when he saw Naruto standing among the group. His clothes were dirty and a bit torn and there were scrapes on his body as he leaned against the railing. Ranma couldn't help but feel quite a bit of respect for the boy. He figured the boy had gotten so hurt he would be recovering in the infirmary. For him to be up and about meant he was one tenacious kid.  
"He must have a high constitution to be up and about so soon," Ranma commented.  
Naruto was having a conversation with a boy his age with his hair done up and back and into a point. The boy Naruto was talking to was a boy named Shikamaru. He was a boy that had a very unique ability where he could manipulate his own shadow. If his shadow ever managed to make in contact with another person's shadow, it gave him the ability to control his opponent.  
"What the heck is that Sasuke doing?" Shikamaru was in the middle of the conversation, "Is he planning on not showing up?"  
"Whatcha talking about?" Naruto replied, "He's definitely going to come,"  
"Ahhhh!" Ranma shouted at Naruto.  
Naruto shouted out in shock, startled out of his wits. He quickly turned around and took a step backwards instinctively. Unfortunately for him, he was up against a railing when he did so and ended up tipping backwards over it.  
"Oopsie," Ranma chuckled, reaching out and grabbing one of Naruto's arms before he fell down off the balcony and all the way down onto the stadium grounds. Although Ranma had no idea how tough Naruto was, he didn't want to risk the boy getting hurt from the fall.  
"You!" Naruto shouted out as he found himself staring up at Ranma as Ranma held him over the railing, using his free arm to point. He had never suspected to see Ranma around. He figured Ranma had gone to say something to the Hokage and then went back to his own realm like all summons did after their job was done.  
Ranma grinned, "Yep, we meet again. Heh, I find it funny how you can be expected to fight against someone like that Neji person when you leave yourself so open that I can sneak up on you so easily,"  
He pulled Naruto up onto the balcony as Naruto glared at him.  
"Who's this?" the boy next to Naruto asked. After a moment, the boy recognized Ranma, "Hey, he's that person you summoned, isn't he?"  
"I'm Ranma," Ranma introduced himself.  
"I'm Shikamaru," the boy said.  
" Nice t'meetcha," Ranma said, nodding toward the young boy in acknowledgement. He noticed the boy seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and seemed very observant, a person that would eventually be a good leader.  
Shikamaru said, "You're a really good fighter. I saw you take down Neji like he was nothing,"  
Ranma shrugged, "That Neji kid's pretty good. He impressed me with a few moves. I didn't expect him to be able to dodge a few of my moves, even if I did execute 'em half-assed,"  
"You move faster than anything I've ever seen," Shikamaru said.  
"Heh, if you think that's fast..." Ranma didn't bother finish the sentence.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen," everyone heard the referee in the middle of the stadium make an announcement, "The contestant for the next match has arrived yet! Therefore, we will push this match back and begin with the next one!"  
The crowd in the stands started booing.  
"What's going on?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto said, "I'm not too sure. It seems like Sasuke's match against Gaara was pushed back,"  
"Sasuke? Gaara?" Ranma asked.  
Shikamaru jerked a thumb toward the young boy with the red hair that had a large gourd strapped around his back, "That's Gaara over there. He's a pretty scary guy. Sasuke is a very skilled fighter who knows the Sharingan, a technique that allows him to see all forms of attack and gives him an edge,"  
"And now, the next match!" everyone heard someone say over a speaker system, "Kankuro and Aburame Shino! Come Down!"  
Ranma looked around the group of kids, wondering which one was which.  
"I forfeit," one of the boys standing near Ranma said. The boy had something that looked a bit like a life sized puppet strapped to his back that was wrapped in bandages.  
Glancing over, Ranma noticed a boy with fuzzy hair wearing shade whose face was partially covered by the collar of the jacket he wore. By the look of the way he seemed a bit relieve made Ranma realize that that boy must've been the other combatant.  
"You hear that?" Naruto turned toward the fuzzy haired boy, glad for him, "You win. Kankuro just forfeited. Aren't you happy?"  
"Ecstatic," the boy said in a soft voice, giving off no indication that he was happy or sad about the quick outcome of the fight. His voice seemed dripping with both sarcasm and relief, if that was at all possible.  
All of a sudden, a young blond hair girl standing near Ranma opened up a giant fan. She hopped off the balcony and rode on top of the fan as it floated down to the middle of the stadium field.  
Ranma regarded her, as she glanced up in his general direction, her gaze straight toward the boy named Shikamaru.  
"Aw man! Why do I hafta fight a girl?" Shikamaru muttered under his breath.  
"All right, Shikamaru, go for it!" Naruto cheered for the boy, giving him a shove, shoving him a bit too hard, sending him tipping over the railing and falling down to the ground down below.  
Ranma reached out to grab at Shikamaru but was too late. He watched as the young boy fell down and landed on his back.  
"Ouch," Ranma smirked, "That looked like it hurt,"  
Ranma watched as Shikamaru got up and glared at Naruto before reluctantly walking toward the center of the battle field to face his opponent, the girl with a giant fan.  
"What's Shikamaru's skill?" Ranma asked, "It seems like that girl seems to have a skill with that giant fan. Does Shikamaru have a special skill as well?"  
Naruto said, "He has The Shadow Binding technique. It a technique where he uses his shadow to capture yours. If that happens, he can control you for a short period of time,"  
Ranma whistled, eager to see how the fight would turn out.  
"Wow, impressive. I never knew a technique like that ever existed. I hope I get to see it in action,"  
"I dunno what that fan girl can do," Naruto added, "I assume it probably using that fan of hers. She knows about Shikamaru's shadow technique so she'll be on the lookout for it,"  
Ranma smirked.  
"This is going to be interesting,"

"Hey, how does Shikamaru manipulate his shadow like that?" Ranma asked Naruto, finding it rather amusing and weird that he was asking a young boy how fighting techniques worked. It should be the other way around.  
Ranma had been watching Shikamaru go about trying to use his shadow to capture his opponent's shadow. He noticed that the shadow that the young boy could manipulate only moved at a certain speed and could not twist and turn all that sharply. The girl with the large fan seemed to be good at dodging and avoiding it.  
Naruto turned away from the action, "He uses his chakra to control it,"  
"Chakra? What's that?" Ranma asked, "It sounds like a kind of dance,"  
"It's not a dance!" Naruto shouted at him.  
"What the heck is it?" Ranma asked, "Do you know what it is?"  
Naruto laughed, "Of course I know what chakra is," Ranma smirked, "So what is it?"  
He found it rather amusing that Naruto seemed to firmly believe he had summoned him and continued to believe that Ranma was there to serve him.  
Naruto scratched his head as he tried to think of a good way of describing it.  
Ranma burst out laughing, "You don't know,"  
"It's...it has something to do with your body," Naruto said.  
"Wow, that's a pretty detailed explanation, thanks," Ranma said sarcastically.  
"Let me finish," Naruto said, "It's internal energy. You can use chakra for anything, like walking on water and making yourself stronger and faster and such,"  
Ranma scratched his chin, "Sounds a lot like what you're describing is ki,"  
"It isn't ki," Naruto said, "Chakra your produce from within your body while ki comes from outside your body where you take it in. Here, let me show you,"  
Naruto, healed of having his Tenketsu points pressed and once again able to produce chakra again, held his hands in front of him in an almost meditative pose.

"Ahhh!" Naruto said.  
Ranma's eyes widened as he sensed great energy seeping out from Naruto's body. It had a lot of raw power to it that seemed to lack precision. It was the same kind of power Ranma had when he was young, pure power with little precision.  
It wasn't until after Ranma had lost his friends and family did Ranma work at controlling his ki with razor-sharp precision.  
After a second, Naruto, too spent from his battle with Neji, stopped trying to generate chakra, breathing labored.  
Ranma regarded Naruto in surprise. It seemed like Naruto knew something about ki. Most boys his age had no idea what ki was or how it worked. Naruto's skill was far beyond the knowledge of martial arts of normal boys his age. "Very impressive, very impressive indeed," Ranma smiled admirably, "Actually, from the way it sounds and looks, it seems like you simply give ki a different name in this world. Ki can and does come from within as well as without. Ki and chakra are one in the same,"  
"No," Naruto said, "It's called chakra. Ki is something different,"  
"No it isn't!"  
"Yes, it is!"  
"No it isn't!"  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a moment before shrugged, "All right. Whatever you say. It bothers me none if you call ki coming from within the body something else,"  
"Ah!" Naruto shouted, his attention elsewhere, "He's got her!"  
"What?" Ranma looked toward where Naruto was looking.  
Looking down at the stadium field, Ranma noticed that Shikamaru seemed to have managed to use his shadow to capture the girl's own shadow and now had control over her body.  
"How the hell did he do that?" Ranma asked, scratching his head.  
"I don't know," Naruto answered, "Because I was too busy talking to you, I missed it,"  
The boy standing on the other side of Naruto, the one with the shades, said, "Shikamaru managed to use the shadow of the girl's fan to alter the direction of his own shadow,"  
Ranma thought about it for a moment and then suddenly realized what must had happened. Shikamaru seemed to have goaded the girl into throwing her fan, timing it perfectly so that his manipulate shadow would pass underneath the thrown fan as it flew toward him. When it touched the shadow of the fan, he was able to use it as a pivot point for his shadow to make a sharp turn to capture the girl's own shadow.  
"Wow, that kid's got a good sense of strategy," Ranma said, impressed with the kids of this world. Neji, Naruto, and now Shikamaru, all only children, displayed great potential as martial artists.  
They all watched intently as Shikamaru and the girl walked toward one another, moving in a mirror image of one another.  
"Ah, the opponent's body mimics Shikamaru's body," Ranma said, "That's means there's a weakness to that technique. He can't hurt his opponent without hurting himself. He throws a punch, his opponent will throw a mirror image of the same punch. Then again..."  
"It's more of a binding technique," Naruto said, "There are ways around it like having a throwing weapon in your hand when you bind your opponent. That way, you can throw your weapon while your opponent throws nothing since there's nothing in his or her hands,"  
Ranma smiled as he said, "That's just what I was about to say,"  
They all watched intently to see what would happen next.  
"I give up," Shikamaru suddenly said. "What?" everyone gasped.  
Ranma smirked, liking Shikamaru even more. It seemed like winning a battle wasn't all that important to him. Winning wasn't everything, a mentality that children didn't realize until adulthood. Heck, Ranma didn't start thinking like that until he was an adult.  
"Definitely leadership," Ranma said to himself, referring to what Shikamaru would be good at. He noticed the young boy had good sense of strategy and mentality for leadership.  
"Winner, Temari!" the referee said, gesturing toward the surprise girl. Temari was the girl's name.  
The crowd burst into cheer. While they had been eager to watch the fight between two different combatants, the match between Shikamaru and the Temari had been a very good one.  
"Why did he give up?" Naruto said to himself, climbing over the railing to talk to Shikamaru, "This pisses me off. I'm gonna go give him a lecture,"  
Running up to Shikamaru, he shouted, "Idiot!"  
"Shut up, you super idiot," Shikamaru retorted.  
The girl walked over to where Ranma and the others were and jumped up onto the balcony, impressing Ranma with her jumping skills.  
Ranma snorted as he heard the boys shout at one another, throwing insults toward each other. It seemed Naruto was annoyed that Shikamaru had given up and had wanted to see him beat that fan girl up.  
Glancing toward where the girl was as he stood by that red-haired boy with the gourd, he decided he should congratulate her. She was a very skilled fighter and it looked like the battle could have gone either way.  
"Hey," Ranma was, "You're Temari, right?"  
The girl turned her attention toward Ranma. She blushed at the sudden sight of the handsome young man standing before her. He looked like he was sixteen, only slightly older than her and had this aura of confidence to him.  
"Um, yes," she responded, regarding Ranma for a moment.  
She recognized him as that fighter Naruto had summoned that had easily defeated Neji. She knew Neji was a very powerful opponent and to have seen Ranma defeat him so easily meant Ranma must be significantly stronger. She didn't get a good look at what Ranma looked like when he was fighting Neji and never realized how cute Ranma was up close.  
"I just wanted to say good job," he smiled warmly, "You did really well,"  
"Um, thanks," she said, still blushing.  
Ranma noticed the red-haired boy glaring toward him with malicious eyes. There was definitely evil intent in the boy's eyes. Ranma could sense it, like the boy wanted to attack him for no apparent reason.  
Ranma smiled, "You're Gaara, right? I'm Ranma. You sure look eager to beat someone up, huh?"  
"You'll be next after I'm done with my next opponent," the boy replied in a cold voice, "I look forward to killing you and proving my existence,"  
"Is that a threat?" Ranma's voice became cold, "I don't like being threatened,"  
Gaara smirked, not one bit intimidated.  
Ranma glared at the boy for a moment before he shrugged.  
The red-haired boy named Gaara snorted in contempt toward Ranma as he turned his gaze back toward the stadium grounds where Naruto and Shikamaru continued to argue.  
Ranma turned toward the girl whom seemed to still be staring at him. She turned her gaze away when she realized she was staring. She was surprised that Ranma didn't seem one bit intimidated by Gaara. There was a pervasive aura of malice to the boy that everyone around Gaara could sense. Did Ranma sense it as well and not care?  
"You're a really good fighter," Ranma said to her, "Congratulations on your win,"  
"Um, thanks," was all she said.  
He walked off to stand of by where he was before.  
"Who fights next?" Ranma asked the fuzzy haired boy wearing the shades.  
As if on cue, a whirlwind seemed to appear out of nowhere in the middle of the stadium grounds, picking up leave and dirt and swirling about. It continued to swirl for a minute before the winds causing it suddenly died down, leaving behind two individuals standing where the swirling leaves once were.  
"Ooh, what an entrance," Ranma whistled, impressed.  
He regarded the two individuals, noticing one of them was an adult and one a young boy. The adult had white hair and had one eye covered by the bandana her wore. The boy had short spiky hair and a cool demeanor to him.  
Noticing how the boy with the gourd strapped around his back, Gaara, became suddenly excited, Ranma ascertained that the boy down below must be his opponent, Sasuke.  
Sensing great power from the boy named Gaara as he walked off to go meet his opponent on the battle field, Ranma wondered how powerful the boy down below, Sasuke, was. If Sasuke was as strong as Gaara, it was going to be a great fight.

new stuff

Ranma approached the man that came up the stairs. He was curious as to who that man was. He had been accompanying the young boy, Sasuke, when they appeared in the middle of the battlefield in that whirlwind.  
"Hi, I'm Ranma," Ranma smiled as he introduced himself.  
"I'm Kakashi," the man said. He had been on his way up the stairs to go to the booth where the Hokage was to talk to him about Sasuke and apologize for showing up late with him. Afterall, the match had to be pushed back until now because they were late.  
The two of them regarded one another. Ranma noticed there was an air of mysteriousness to Kakashi. He was curious as to why one of his eyes was covered up by that bandana he wore. It sure looked cool the way he wore it. He could sense a great amount to fighting skill from the man, far greater than that of Naruto. It led him to believe that he must be some sort of sensei that taught martial arts to the children. "So, you're Ranma," Kakashi said.  
"You know me?" Ranma asked, surprised.  
"I heard Naruto somehow summoned you," Kakashi said, "I wasn't around to see, but I heard you defeated Neji quite easily. Neji is a very talented young fighter,"  
Naruto smiled happily, "He's my minion!"  
Kakashi chuckled as Ranma just glared at the boy. It seemed like Ranma wanted to argue but found it fruitless to argue against a young boy since it would eventually turn into a 'Am not!' and 'Are, too!' match. Win an argument like that against a young boy would never happen.  
"Well, it was nice meeting you," Kakashi said, "I must meet with someone,"  
"All right," Ranma said, "Likewise,"  
Ranma eagerly stood by and watched as the two boys faced one another. "So, this match is gonna be between Sasuke and Gaara? That kid with the gourd, Gaara, I can tell is really strong for his age," Ranma stated.  
He snorted in annoyance, "Yeah, that's Sasuke and Gaara. The whole crowd seems to be here to see them fight. Frankly, I dunno what's so special about it.,"  
"Lemme see for myself," Ranma said.  
The match between Sasuke and Gaara started. The two of them quit their conversing to watch intently. Ranma noticed that sand seemed to come out of the gourd that Gaara carried and surround him, leaving Ranma to believe that it might act as some kind of protective barrier. When Sasuke threw a few throwing stars toward Gaara and the sand suddenly formed a clone of Gaara and caught the projectiles, it confirmed Ranma's assumption.  
"Hm, it seems like that Gaara controls sand," Ranma said, "That's a mighty interesting skill. Does it take a lot outta him to manipulate sand? It seems to take a lot outta Shikamaru to manipulate his shadow. Does the same apply for sand?"  
Naruto said, "No. The sand moves on its own. Gaara doesn't really have control over the sand. It constantly protects him whether he likes it or not,"  
He remembered seeing how the sand moved around at protecting him during a previous battle against a young boy named Rock Lee.  
"Hm, interesting," Ranma said, wondering what Sasuke was going to do. The two of them watched as Sasuke dashed in, intent on attacking Gaara head out. Ranma smirked, realizing that Sasuke seemed a bit like himself, preferring the straight-forward approach.  
Ranma found himself a bit surprised as he saw the barrier of sand form around Gaara to protect him, and Sasuke suddenly change his approach, quickly circling around his opponent and attacked him from behind.  
Gaara was sent flying through the air where he ended up sliding to a halt a short distance away from where he had been standing.  
"Hm, that Sasuke kid's pretty quick," Ranma stated, realizing Sasuke's plan. With a single glance, Ranma noticed Sasuke was trying to goad the barrier of sand into thinking he was going to attack and committing itself to blocking the attack, leaving opening in the barrier for Gaara to be attacked from a different directly.  
He watched as Sasuke did that again, dashing in as if to attack head-on once again, quickly changing directions and attacking Gaara from behind as the barrier of sand committed itself to protecting Gaara in the front. "It seems like the same trick doesn't work," Ranma smirked, noticing the sand quickly shifting itself to form a barrier around Gaara's back.  
That seemed to have been Sasuke's expectation as he shifted direction again, circling around his opponent and attacking him from the front now.  
Ranma couldn't help but get excited, "This is so exciting!"  
It was definitely a high-level fight. He found himself being reminding of the kinds of fights he and Ryoga used to get into when he was young and that got him a bit pumped up. It was natural, being a guy and all. Whenever a guy saw two people fighting, they couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement.  
Also, Gaara had rubbed him the wrong way with that threat and he wanted to see him get beaten up. Sure, Ranma himself would probably not do so but he had no objections about seeing someone else do it for him.  
Never really having seen two people fight, usually the one actually doing the fighting instead of watching, Ranma was completely unaware that his battle aura was starting to flare.  
Everyone in the balcony turned their gaze away from the battle down below and looked toward Ranma as he watched the battle. They all looked shock at the sight of seeing a person's battle aura. Ki was swirling around Ranma, visible to the human eye.  
To everyone, Ranma looked like Naruto when Naruto was forcing himself to produce chakra. Only Naruto had managed to somehow produce chakra that was visible and Naruto had no idea exactly how he did it. Seeing Ranma doing it at a subconscious level made Ranma seem all the more powerful. Afterall, Naruto had to really push himself to produce visible chakra, and that was only because his back was to the wall and he had nothing else to lose. Ranma, on the other hand, seemed to be producing it simply from being excited watching the battle.  
Ranma sensed everyone staring at him and looked at them.  
"What?" he asked, his aura dissipating and disappearing.  
"W-what was that aura surrounding you?" Naruto stammered, asking the same question everyone else wanted to ask.  
Ranma said, "Oh, you saw that? Sorry, I didn't realize I was getting so excited about the match that my battle aura started flaring up,"  
"Battle aura?" Naruto asked.  
"Y'know, Ki," Ranma said, "Or as you put it, chakra. Sometimes, if I get excited or pissed or whatever, my aura starts flaring up and my ki becomes visible,"  
None of the children said anything.  
Ranma turned his gaze back onto the battle, not wanting to miss anything. When he looked, he noticed that both combatants had stopped what they were doing and were staring right up at him. It seemed like they had seen Ranma's aura coming from the balcony and had been curious as to what it was.  
Looking around, he realized that the entire stadium was looking at him. Never having seen such a display of power, no one really knew how to react but stare in surprise. It was very much like how everyone found themselves staring at Naruto when he did something similar when he was fighting against Neji. Only because of Ranma's appearance did people seem to have forgotten what Naruto had done. "Sorry, I didn't mean to distract everyone," Ranma gave a meek laugh, "It won't happen again,"  
A sound could be heard coming from the field. Looking down, everyone noticed Sasuke flying through the air where he slammed against the wall on one end of the field. It seemed like Gaara, while very curious about what had just happened, didn't let it distract him, and seized the opportunity and attacked Sasuke.  
Everyone caught a glimpse of Gaara. One of his hands was extended in the direction of Sasuke as sand could be seen flowing toward him and surrounding him after it had formed into and been used as super-long stabbing weapon.  
Ranma looked over toward where Sasuke was and noticed a large quantity of blood flowing from the young boy's right shoulder, seeping out from between his fingers as he clutched at the wound with his working arm.  
"Oh oh, I think it's my fault that this happened," Ranma said to himself, believing he had accidentally distracted Sasuke long enough that Gaara could capitalize on it and seriously hurt him.  
Ranma felt very bad about himself as he watched Sasuke struggled to get up, clutching at his shoulder, his face contorted in pain. He coughed a few times, bringing some blood up with it.  
It seems the match is over, Ranma thought. There's no way that Sasuke can continue on with a wound like that. If he does try to continue on, he'll be at a serious disadvantage since his right arm's now useless.  
Ranma watched in concern as Sasuke struggled to run away, still clutching at his shoulder as a wave of sand chased after him, trying to stab at him. When Ranma saw Sasuke get stabbed through one of his legs and go tumbling onto the ground, he turned toward Naruto.  
"Hey, someone should stop the match," Ranma said, "He's gonna get killed at this rate,"  
He looked down and noticed Naruto watching the match intently, his knuckles white as he gripped the railing tightly. Seeing so made Ranma realize that Naruto didn't want this to happen, that it seemed like he was secretly rooting for Sasuke and didn't like how the match was turning out.  
Glancing over toward the referee overseeing the match, he noticed the man made no effort to stop it, not even after Sasuke got stabbed through the left shoulder and found himself lying limply on the ground in a puddle of blood.  
"Hey, what is this?" Ranma asked Naruto, noticing Sasuke struggling to get back up to his feet, as if to continue on fighting until he died, "Is this some kinda fight-to-the-death kinda fight? That Gaara kid is murdering Sasuke,"  
He watched in horror as Sasuke was stabbed again by Gaara's sand, the sand shooting out dagger-like protrusions from it and striking Sasuke as he tried to stagger away, this time stabbing through his other leg. "Hey!" Ranma shouted out toward the referee, "What the hell are you waiting for? Stop the goddamn match!"  
The referee seemed to notice that Sasuke was completely outmatched. He made a motion toward Gaara to prevent him from continuing his offense toward Sasuke anymore. Unfortunately, Gaara seemed to have other plans as he used his sand to attack at the referee, using it to stab at him in similar fashion as he had done so toward Sasuke. The referee skillfully dodged the attacks but was forced to back flip several times to a safe distance away from the boy. With the referee unable to do anything to stop Gaara, Ranma realized Gaara had a perfect opportunity of killing his opponent, no one between him and his wounded opponent.  
"Oh shit!" Ranma said, sensing the killing intent coming from the red-haired boy, "He's gonna kill him!"  
Without hesitation, Ranma hopped onto the railing, and angled his body toward an open location between Gaara and the wounded Sasuke. Kicking out with great force and bend the railing backwards, Ranma flew through the air and came to a sliding halt right in front of Gaara.  
"Enough!" Ranma said, "The match is over!"  
He didn't care what he was interrupting. He didn't care if this was a life-or-  
death match. There was no way he would stay idle while someone murdered someone else. While having seen his fair share of death and suffering, he didn't condone death upon everyone.  
Gaara didn't seem one bit interested in listening to Ranma's plea. Instead, he responded by having the sand surrounding him stab at Ranma. Unlike Sasuke or the referee, Ranma didn't one bit worried about the amount of damage it could cause to the human body should he get stabbed.  
Instead, he just remained in a fixed location, dodging rather effortlessly every single attack. As he did so, the entire audience stood up and watched the sudden turn of event. The match had already been decided, Gaara being the winner, so Ranma no longer worried about his interference disqualifying Sasuke.  
Gaara could be seen getting frustrated as Ranma seemed to effortlessly dodge all his attacks. Although he didn't make any motions aside from just standing still and basically Willing the sand to do his bidding, his face showed signs of annoyance that his attacks seemed useless against the new arrival.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" Ranma shouted, jamming a finger into the ground.  
All of a sudden, the ground below Gaara exploded upward. The rocky shrapnel struck Gaara and sent him flying upward, a look of surprise on his face. Luckily for him, the sand stopped attacking Ranma and retreated back where Gaara would land and created a cushion to soften his fall, catching him and allowing him to land on his feet.  
"No hard feelings, kid," Ranma said, a bit regretful of having to attack a young boy. He told himself that the ends justified the means. If he needed to hurt someone to save someone, he would not hesitate.  
He regarded Gaara and noticed that portions of his face was cracked, as if he had a porcelain facemask on that just got chipped. Bits and pieces of it fell off to reveal some flesh underneath for a moment before the cracks sealed themselves up. The chipped pieces could be seen landing by Gaara's feet, dissolving into sand and being assimilated with the sand surrounding the boy.  
Ranma smirked as he saw this.  
Hm, it seems like that Gaara kid has some kinda thin layer of armor made of sand covering him at all times, Ranma thought. I guess I hadn't noticed it before when Sasuke hit him because I was too far away while watching the fight.  
Ranma gazed in the direction of the booth where the Hokage was, wondering what was taking so long for him to send someone to the battlefield to halt the match. Glancing back in the direction of Sasuke, he saw Kakashi kneeling over Sasuke's wounded body.  
It seems like I'm not the only one that realizes the match has gone too far, Ranma thought.  
Ranma relaxed as he turned toward Gaara. He looked a bit surprised when he noticed Gaara clutching at his head like he was having a massive headache.  
"Hey, you all right?" Ranma asked, wondering if it was his fault the young boy seemed to be in pain. Ranma wasn't aware that the excitement of the of fighting extremely powerful opponents made Gaara become more and more bloodthirsty. A boy that lived a painful past, he believed that the only way to prove to himself that he still existed was to battle and kill. The thought of killing someone strong like Ranma made his blood boil with excitement and him unstable.  
Unexpectedly, Gaara suddenly surrounded himself with sand, enveloping himself in a sphere-like cocoon around eight feet in diameter.  
"Whoa? What the heck's he doing?" Ranma asked, scratching his head. Seeing about how one person could manipulate his shadow to control his opponents, Ranma knew he had to be cautious about the unexpected. Who knew what kind of techniques this Gaara boy had?  
More curious than cautious, Ranma walked over to the sphere, taking care not to get too close.  
"Whoa, this kinda reminds me of when I fought with Saffron when I was young," Ranma said to himself. He remember how Saffron took on the form of an egg to transform himself into a much more powerful form.  
Taking a cautious step forward and closer to the sphere, dagger-like protrusions shot out from the sphere in an attempt to stab Ranma. Instinctively, Ranma reacted quickly enough to jump back out of the way, landing a safe distance away.  
"Proximity," Ranma said to himself, "It seems like the sphere of sand only attacks if you get within a certain range,"  
Not really wanting to mess around with the sphere, looking as if he had suddenly lost interest in what it was, Ranma turned around and began walking toward where Sasuke was as he struggled to stand back up.  
Kakashi was kneeling over him trying to prevent him from hurting himself more trying to get back up.  
"You're pushing yourself too much," Kakashi said.  
"N-no, I-I'm not through yet," Sasuke gritted his teeth. Before he managed to get back to his feet, he fell back down, both his wounded legs unable to support his bodyweight.  
Ranma walked up to Sasuke.  
"You should rest," Ranma said to Sasuke.  
The boy looked toward Ranma. His eyes widened as he recognized him as the person whom he had seen with the flaring aura. That had distracted him just long enough that he Gaara was able to capitalize on it and land wound him.  
Sasuke let out an annoyed breath, angry at himself. How could he had gotten distracted enough to let Gaara hit him? He didn't even get the chance to try out the new special technique Kakashi had taught him on his opponent either.  
Naruto could bee seen running up to the three of them.  
"You're all beat up, Sasuke," Naruto said, smirking, "It seems like you weren't strong enough to defeat Gaara,"  
"Hmph," Sasuke snorted derisively, trying to get up again, much to no avail.  
Ranma regarded the young boy and his wounds. No vital areas had been struck so he would be fine given some rest. He might have some scars from the battle but that would be about it. He had received no wounds that would be debilitating to him later on in life.  
"We better get you to an infirmary," Kakashi said, throwing Sasuke's left arm over him and helping him up. He didn't want to carry him because it would make Sasuke look pathetic in front of the observing crowd, to be carried out of the battle field like an invalid.  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward the sphere of sand, "I dunno what that Gaara kid's doing, but I'm sensing some wickedly serious vibe coming from that ball over there. Hey, get away from there!"  
Naruto, out of curiosity, had approached the sphere of sand. When he got in too close, it started attacking him in a similar fashion as Ranma. Luckily, Naruto managed to dodge most of the attacks, only receiving some glancing blows that caused only superficial cuts before he quickly ran away to a safe location.  
"Moron," Ranma snickered, wondering why Naruto approached it when he must have seen Ranma do the same thing and get attacked for doing so moments before. It was as if Naruto wanted to find out for himself that he would get attacked instead of believing what he had seen.  
When he saw Naruto picking up rocks and throwing it at the sphere, Ranma started laughing, very amused with how Naruto reacted to the situation.  
He has the right idea, Ranma thought with a bemused smile. That's probably something I would've done as well.  
"Whoa!" Ranma said in shock when he saw Naruto shout something out and suddenly replicate himself. Ranma found himself starting at four exact copies of Naruto as all four of them went about picking up and throwing rocks at the sphere. And what really surprised Ranma as that he couldn't tell which one was the real Naruto. Heck, he couldn't tell if all four were the real ones or one was real and the other three mere clones.  
"Naruto, quit it," Kakashi said, "Leave it, whatever it is, alone,"  
Suddenly, a loud explosion could be heard coming from the stands. All of them turned their gaze toward the noise. Looking at the stands, they noticed that everyone in the stands were fast asleep.  
"What the?" Ranma said, the first to notice something was out of the ordinary. He cast a glance up toward the booth where the Hokage was and noticed several shadows dancing about, crossing paths in the stands as a battle erupted throughout the stands. He noticed that there were several guys wearing animal masks fighting one another.  
"Whoa, what's going on here?" Ranma asked. Kakashi seemed to have realized that something big was going down, turning his attention toward Naruto. The first thing that entered his mind was that it was an assassination attempt on the Hokage, meaning he needed to take action immediately but not while he had his hands full with Sasuke.  
"Naruto," Kakashi gently placed Sasuke back down on the ground, "Watch over Sasuke! Get him out of here and to safety!"  
"W-what's going on here?" Naruto asked, noticing that something was wrong. Sasuke looked like he was about to ask the same question as well.  
"Go!" Kakashi said in a loud and commanding voice.  
"O-okay," Naruto said, doing as he was told. Now was not the time to ask questions.  
He reluctantly slipped himself under Sasuke's left arm and helped him to his feet. Together, they slowly made their way for a door located near the back of the stadium grounds that lead directly outside the stadium.  
He had no idea what was going on but believed that he should offer some form of help where it was needed. It dawned on him why all those people in the animal masks seemed to have mistaken Ranma for an assassin, because assassination attempts on the Hokage were common. Perhaps an assassination attempt on the Hokage was happening this very moment.  
"You need help?" Ranma felt like he should offer.  
Ranma found himself talking thin air for Kakashi was no longer there, having set off to tend to the anarchy that had erupted in the stands. Whatever it was, it got all the Anbu, the people in the animal masks, all riled up because they seemed to be all fighting one another.  
Ranma just stood there scratching his head for a moment, wondering what he should do. After a moment of contemplation, he decided that he should watch over Naruto and Sasuke. He felt partially responsible about the condition Sasuke was in and wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to him should he need someone to watch over him. Sure, Naruto might be competent enough to see to Sasuke's safety but Ranma had no idea the extent of Naruto's abilities.  
Wanting to following after Naruto, Ranma accidentally ran in too close to the sphere of sand for it stabbed at him countless times. Luckily, Ranma dodged the attacks without much effort.  
"Jeez," Ranma said in annoyance, glaring at the sphere.  
He decided to kick a few rocks in its direction, the rocks bouncing off easily, before dismissing the sphere of sand and its purpose and heading off after Naruto. Ranma caught up to Naruto as he nearly half-dragged Sasuke away from the stadium in no time.  
Because of Sasuke's injuries, it made it really difficult to get away from the stadium quickly. Also, the fact that Sasuke seemed to be fighting against receiving Naruto's help also made running away all the slower.  
Naruto and Sasuke were making their way down a street heading in a random direction away from the stadium. They had no idea where they were going but there had heard what Kakashi had told them, to get out away from where they were and to safety. Although they wanted to ask him what had happened back at the stadium they knew that it was best to do as they were told and not ask questions.  
"Hey," Ranma said as he caught up to them.  
"Ranma!" Naruto seemed relieved to see him.  
"I figure I'd come an watch over you," he stated. He didn't bother to mention that he also felt like he should be obligated to help out since it was probably his fault Sasuke was in the shape he was in anyway.  
Ranma smirked for a moment. If he did take Sasuke, Naruto's belief that Ranma was summoned by him and was therefore his minion would be further reinforced. Of course, now was not the time to try and convince him otherwise.  
Sasuke regarded Ranma curiously. He didn't know what to make of Ranma.  
Ranma looked to be a little bit older that him and Naruto seemed to know him. He had heard that he was summoned by Naruto and had defeated Neji without getting touched. "Hey, what's that?" Naruto shouted, dropping Sasuke to the ground so he could point.  
Ranma glanced in the direction Naruto was pointing. Because they weren't all that far away from the stadium, they were able to see what looked like a transparent barrier that was the shape of a large cube rising up into the sky over a building attached to the stadium. The building itself happened to be the building that contained the booth where the Hokage sat.  
Ranma squinted as he could see four individuals standing by each corner of the barrier. He surmised that it they were somehow the ones putting up the barrier.  
"Hm, I wonder what that's for," Ranma asked himself.  
"Hey! That's the Hokage in there!" Naruto said, pointing toward an individual standing inside that cube barrier. Ranma recognized the attire the Hokage wore. He noticed the Hokage was facing someone wearing similar attire. He noticed that the guy the Hokage was facing had been the person sitting in the seat next to him in the booth.  
"You're right," Ranma answered, "That is the Hokage,"  
It seemed like his assumption was right, that it was an assassination attempt on the Hokage. He surmised that the barrier was there to prevent anyone from coming to his rescue so that the person within the barrier would be able to fight the Hokage uninterrupted.  
"Looks like they're gonna fight," Naruto said.  
"That's Orochimaru!" Sasuke shouted, becoming visibly furious as he recognized the individual facing the Hokage.  
"What?" Naruto's eyes widened in shock.  
"Who's Orochimaru?" Ranma asked, "He must be a bad guy. I mean, really, with a name like that, you hafta be a bad guy,"  
Naruto and Sasuke said nothing. There was a 'cool' factor to Ranma because he seemed to possess immense power, but it seemed like it was cancelled out by the 'weird' factor he had just gotten with a statement like that.  
He caught sight of Sasuke as he seemed to be struggling on his own as he tried to walk back toward the stadium with two wounded legs. "Where do you think you're going?" Naruto asked.  
Sasuke ignored the question, too busy concentrating at fighting back the pain as he tried to make his way toward the stadium.  
Ranma smirked, impressed at Sasuke's tenacity and resilience.  
"It seems like Sasuke has some beef with this Orochimaru dude, huh?" Ranma asked toward Naruto.  
Naruto nodded. He headed over to Sasuke and shouted at him, "You can't fight in this condition,"  
"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke sneered, his voice full of annoyance, "I don't need you telling me what I can or can't do,"  
"Hey, who's this Orochimaru guy?" Ranma asked, curious. "He's a bad person!" was all Naruto could come up with.  
Looking back toward the stadium, Ranma said, "So you think he's up to no good? If that's him up there on top of the stadium building with the Hokage, perhaps he's here to kill him,"  
"We hafta save the Hokage!" Naruto shouted, "He needs our help!"  
"Like he needs someone like you helping him," Sasuke snorted.  
"Like you're any better!" Naruto countered.  
Ranma laughed. From his brief encounter with the Hokage, Ranma had ascertained that he was perhaps the strongest person since his arrival on this world. The thought of Naruto thinking the Hokage needed his help was rather amusing. But then again, one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. A single individual can change the course of history and perhaps save the world. Afterall, Ranma had done so on several occasions.  
"Let's go help the Hokage out!" Naruto shouted.  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward Sasuke, "Didn't that Kakashi person tell you to watch over Sasuke a minute ago?"  
Naruto was gone.  
Ranma sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He glanced down toward Sasuke as Sasuke gazed up at him, regarding him intently, not really knowing what to make of Ranma.  
Offering a hand to Sasuke, "Take my hand. I'll get you away from here,"  
He should see to it that Sasuke be safe. Afterall, for all he knew, Sasuke could be a special boy that that Orochimaru would take hostage should he have the chance. Perhaps that was why Kakashi wanted to make sure someone watched over him.  
Sasuke regarded Ranma for a moment before he reached out and took Ranma's hand. This surprised Ranma because Sasuke seemed like one of those strong, silent types, wanting help from no one because it looked like a sign of weakness.  
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked.  
"My name's Ranma," Ranma answered.  
"Did Naruto really summon you?" Sasuke asked, his voice dripping with skepticism. He didn't know much about summonings, only having read about it in books. Also, didn't summonings only hold true to animals?  
Ranma shrugged.  
He didn't care if people believed him or not. He had tried a few times to convince people that he wasn't summoned here but they didn't seem to listen. He found it easier to just go drop the subject right on the spot.  
"Sorry you got hurt," Ranma stated, "I feel it was my fault that this happened to you. I must've accidentally distracted you when I got excited,"  
Sasuke snorted in annoyance, more toward himself than anyone else. He couldn't believe he really did get distracted like that. It was because the aura he saw looked very much like the aura he had seen Kakashi form in his hands when he was trying to show him a technique to learn specifically for his battle against Gaara.  
"You think Naruto will be okay?" Ranma asked.  
Sasuke didn't bother answering, which lead Ranma to believe that the boy could take care of himself.  
Ranma glanced toward the outskirts of the city where he caught sight of a giant three headed monster that looked a bit like a three-headed hydra. It was gigantic, standing probably taller than a hundred feet as it went about attacking random buildings located around the barrier wall surrounding the entire Hidden Leaf Village.  
"Whoa," Ranma said, pointing, "Check that out,"  
Sasuke looked toward where Ranma was pointing and had a look of surprise on his face, "What's going on here?"  
Ranma laughed, "You tell me. I dunno anything about this village. Does this village have enemies like other villages or monsters? It seems like this village is either being attacked by a monster or being invaded and that's a form of ruse to draw people's attention,"  
The hydra, Ranma assumed, was most likely a ruse. It seemed like there was an assassination attempt on the Hokage at this very moment and the hydra was attacking to draw attention away from the assassination attempt.  
"I have to go warn someone!" Sasuke tried to get to his feet, falling down when the pain prevented him. Ranma caught him by his good arm and threw it over his shoulder to keep him standing.  
"You ain't going no where," Ranma said, smirking, "You're in no condition to help anyone. I'm sure that someone will get word out that this village is being attacked,"  
Sasuke wrested his arm away from Ranma and staggered to the ground, feeling the need to do something, anything.  
"See? You're in no mood to go anywhere," Ranma said, a bit stoic, "You're too hurt to do anything. We need to get you away from here, away from all the trouble. I'm here to help you but how do you expect me to help you if you don't want any help?"  
"I don't need help from anyone," Sasuke snapped.  
Ranma shrugged. He watched as Sasuke continued to force himself back to his feet, much to no avail once again. He wanted to help Sasuke out but it seemed like Sasuke was stubborn in thinking he didn't need help. Believing the best way to learn was the hard way, Ranma decided to let Sasuke figure it out himself, that he was in no condition to continue fighting against his wounds and try and move.  
"You're gonna cause damage to yourself at this rate," Ranma said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, "The wounds you suffered are very bad, but not deadly. You're gonna permanently debilitate yourself if you keep forcing your body well beyond what it can do,"  
"Ahhhhhh!" came a screaming voice.  
Ranma and Sasuke gazed in the direction of the stadium as one side of it collapsed outward as if something very large inside crashed against the wall, massive clouds of dust picked up from it and covering the area. They saw Naruto running straight toward them, a terrified look on his face as if he was running for his life When the dust cleared up, Ranma and Sasuke found themselves looking at a giant four-legged monster with a huge bushy tail that was probably just as large as that serpent wrecking havoc to the outskirts of the village behind them as it seemed to chase after Naruto. The monster looked a lot like a giant badger that was covered with tattoo-like scribbles marking its entire body, even its tail.  
His eyes widened when he recognized a figure whose lower body seemed to be a part of the monster, embedded in the monster's forehead. It was Gaara. Little did Ranma know that he was looking at the legendary demon monster, Shuukaku, a monster living within Gaara all this time, finally set free when Gaara had cocooned himself in that sphere of sand around ten minutes.  
"Whoa, that Gaara kid transformed into that?" Ranma gasped, instantly reminded of his encounter with a child-like Saffron assuming the form of an egg and emerging as a full-grown adult version of himself. Remembering that made Ranma believe that Gaara seemed to have undergone a similar process, transforming into something more powerful and sinister.  
"Well, at least now we know what Naruto's running away from," Ranma smirked, feeling the ground shake with very stepped the monster took. He couldn't help but feel his heart race, him having not gone up against giant monsters of that caliber before. When he realized Naruto was running straight toward them, he turned toward Sasuke, "Still don't want my help?"  
Sasuke seemed to be at a loss of words.  
"I'll take that as a yes," Ranma said.  
He quickly picked up Sasuke in his arms, Sasuke wincing in pain from being handled so roughly. Ranma didn't really care, confident that Sasuke could withstand a bit of pain. When Naruto ran right by him, he quickly took off after Naruto as the monster chased after them.  
"What the hell didja do?" Ranma asked Naruto as they ran down the street, the monster closely behind. Although the monster was gigantic and was able to cover entire city blocks with a single step a terrified Naruto sprinting for his life was no slow-poke. Unfortunately, the monster was easily catch up to Naruto.  
Ranma, able to sprint much faster than that, kept easy pace with Naruto.  
"I did nothing!" Naruto shouted, believing he was at fault for the sudden appearance of the monster, "Really! All I did was throw a few rocks at that sphere Gaara was in as I was running by it and that monster suddenly appeared out of it!"  
"So it is your fault," Ranma said, smirking.  
"I didn't know something like that was gonna happen!" Naruto shouted.  
Ranma grabbed Naruto, tucking him under and arm and leapt away as a giant paw came crashing down upon where they were running. Naruto and Sasuke found themselves staring up at Ranma in shock as Ranma ran down the street, the monster continuing its chase. He took off in a massive sprint, taking a lead over the monster to create some distance between them.  
"Yep, it's definitely trying to kill you or us," Ranma ascertained. He didn't want to jump to conclusions about the monster's temperament. For all he knew, it could have been a giant pet wanting to greet Naruto. However, realizing that it seemed evident it was trying to attack them and kill them, Ranma could take actions.  
Ranma came to a sliding halt, turning around to face the monster.  
He dropped Naruto and Sasuke on the ground.  
"Naruto! Take Sasuke and run!" Ranma shouted toward them.  
Naruto was wide-eyed as he just stared up at Ranma, a look of fear on his face.  
"Now!" Ranma shouted.  
Naruto nodded, not wanting to ask questions. He quickly turned toward Sasuke, noticing the shocked look in the boy's face. He quickly grabbed Sasuke, throwing him over his shoulder, not caring one bit how rough he was being toward him, before taking off in a mad sprint away from the chasing monster.  
Naruto stole a glance backward to see Ranma's back as he stood defiantly to take on the giant monster, glowing blue as his battle aura flared brilliantly, an arm extended forward in the direction of the monster, hand wide open.  
He sensed a great burst of energy coming from Ranma as he saw a massive ki-  
blast shoot out from Ranma's extended hand, the ki-blast sailing right by the giant monster's right shoulder, arcing upward before it disappeared beyond the clouds high above.  
The monster came to a skidding halt, surprised at that magnificent display of power. As Naruto continued to glance backward, he was shocked at what he had seen but didn't stop running.  
"What the heck was that?"

new stuff 12/18

Ranma realized he had gotten the monster's attention.  
"C'mon, catch me if you can," Ranma turned around, heading off in a different direction, away from where Naruto and Sasuke were heading. He wanted to lead the monster away from the two children.  
Gazing in the direction of the giant three-headed serpent attacking the outskirts of the city, he smirked, coming up with a plan.  
Ranma took off in a sprint in the direction of the serpent, smiling as he noticed giant badger-like creature chasing after him.  
The monster's speed was very impressive as Ranma found himself jumping as the monster swiped at him with claw-like paws, craters being formed on the ground from the impact. "Man, I hope this works," Ranma said, a bit worried.  
In front of him was giant serpent with three heads as it proceeded to destroy buildings. Ninja's could be seen jumping between buildings in what looked like a dance as they threw shurikens at the monster, their projectiles doing no damage to it as they seemed to bounce of the monster's thick, scaly skin. Behind him was the giant badger-like monster hell-bent on killing him, continuously swiping at him, missing him all the while as Ranma timed his jumps perfect to dodge all incoming attacks while on the run.  
Ranma ran right up to the serpent and made a sharp right turn when he got close enough to actually touch the scaly underside of the serpent. The badger-like monster ended up crashing right into the three-headed serpent, hitting it such force that the both of them ended up tumbling over and over themselves, rolling right through and destroy several building in the process where it crashed into the large wall that surrounded the village. The wall that surrounded the village protected it from the wild animals that inhabited the dense forest area located just outside that wall as well as acted as a giant gate to prevent an invasion. It was stood around a hundred feet tall, every bit as tall as the monsters, and were extremely thick, around ten feet thick, all of it made of stone. However, despite how strong the wall was, it was nothing against the impact of both monsters crashing into it.  
A large portion of the wall toppled over as both monsters crashed against it, thousands of bits and pieces of rocks shooting out like shrapnel as the monsters broke right through it. Both monsters came to a sliding halt several hundred feet outside the village where they crashed against the side of a mountain, a gigantic pathway created from all those trees that were destroyed leading from the broken wall all the way to where both monsters now lay.  
Wanting to get a good vantage point of what was happening, he triangle jumped against several buildings that lined the wall and landed on the top of the walls, landing right by the gaping hole the monsters had created when it crashed against it and broken through.  
"All right!" Ranma said, throwing an arm up in triumph as he saw both monsters suddenly start fighting one another, clawing and biting at each other like mortal enemies, destroying massive amounts of forestation as trees were destroyed and flattened beneath their enormous bodies.  
He noticed several people figures standing by him on the wall as well. He recognized them as those that had been attacking the serpent with shurikens when he came sprinting down the street straight toward it.  
"Pretty smart, huh?" Ranma smirked, referring to himself and that rather ingenious plan of his to manipulating two monsters into fighting themselves. The way the thought about it, why bother defeating opponents using brute strength when it was much easier doing so using the mind.  
"Who are you?" one of the ninja's asked. Because it was their jobs to patrol the village wall, they never saw Ranma in the stadium and weren't aware of him.  
"Um, a friend I guess," Ranma gave a smile.  
Ranma watched as the guy he was talking to was instantly vaporized as a large ball of fire engulf him and a portion of the wall he was standing on. Although he hadn't been standing all that close, extreme heat could be felt as the fireball shot right by him.  
"Whoa!" Ranma said, turning his gaze in the direction where the projectile had come from. He found himself surprised that the three-headed serpent was no more, torn to pieces by the badger-like monster within seconds. Blood from the dead monster could be seen trickling down the pathway like that of a river.  
He found himself staring at the monster as it stared back at him from several hundred feet away. He watched as the monster's belly suddenly expanded as if it was taking in a deep breath.  
"Holy shit!" Ranma shouted, jumping off the wall as several massive fireballs incinerated the area of the wall where he had been standing and other portions of the wall, incinerating the half dozen hapless ninjas and the portion of the wall they were standing on in their wake.  
Falling down the hundred or so foot drop, Ranma landed softly on his feet and gazed in the direction of the monster, only to see several more fireballs rocketing toward him and other portions of the wall to finish off the remaining ninjas.  
Knowing that the fireball was way to large to dodge, Ranma did the next best thing, shooting a ki-blast directly at the projectile. When both projectiles struck one another, a massive explosion erupted, massive winds being produced from it, sending Ranma flying bodily backward where he skillfully flipped in the air and landed on his feet around twenty feet back from where he stood.  
"Ha! You suck!" Ranma shouted, almost laughing, caught up in the thrill of the life-and-death situation. He saw the monster taking in a deep breath.  
"Oh shit!" Ranma turned around and started running away, narrowly missed by a fireball as it missed him and incinerated several hapless building directly in its path.  
"I've got to do something or the village's gonna be destroyed," Ranma said to himself.  
He quickly triangle jumped of a couple buildings still intact and landed on a still-standing portion of the wall. Realizing that he needed to do something fast or risk even more damage to the city, he extended his hand toward the monster.  
"No hard feelings, but you gotta go down," Ranma said, realizing the monster taking another deep breath to let loose another volley of projectiles, "But you need to go down now!"  
Ranma let lose several massive ki-blasts in quick successions from his extended hand, striking the monster in the chest area. The first blast knocked the monster back, stunning it. The second one ended up forcing the monster's front legs off the ground. The third and forth ones ended up knocking the monster back further on its hind legs where it ended up falling backwards onto its back.  
"Suck on that!" Ranma cheered. The cheer didn't last long as the monster quickly twisted on the ground and got back on its feet and fired off a volley of fireballs in Ranma's general direction.  
Once again, Ranma dove off the wall and back down to the ground again as the fireballs narrowly missed him. Unfortunately, it seemed like the monster was rather smart as it anticipated him doing so, aiming a fireball right at the spot where Ranma would land before Ranma had even jumped off the wall.  
Ranma was struck hard by the last blast, not incinerated simply because he saw it coming and realized he could do nothing but bracing himself for a world of hurt, instinctively shooting a ki-blast right into the fireball as it nearly enveloped him.  
The explosion of the ki-blast and the fireball sent Ranma spinning uncontrollably through the air in a wide arc across the sky where he crashed against the middle of a street located several block within the village, bouncing off the ground where he slammed against a pole and through it before coming to a stop after smashing through a store's front window and crashing into the back wall of a store.  
Ranma found himself dizzy from spinning around through the air like that as he looked around, trying to get his bearing, trying to figure out where he was. His head hurt and his body ached but he was otherwise okay. It felt like he had been punched square in the face by a really pissed off Ryoga. "Goddamn monster," Ranma muttered, spitting out some blood.  
He quickly got to his feet and made his way out of the store via the broken front window. Upon stepping out, he caught sight of the monster making its way into the village via the broken down wall.  
"Damn, that thing's tough," Ranma stated, wondering what the monster's weak spot was. It had taken four very powerful ki-blasts right in the chest and seemed to continue on as if unfazed.  
"Hm," Ranma wondered, "I guess it couldn't hurt to try,"  
Ranma pointed his hands toward the monster as it came running down the street, shooting a ki-blast right between and past its two front place and hitting the area between its hind legs, its private area. Ranma had always wondered if animals could become easily as incapacitated getting hit in that area as humans could. The blast did nothing more than cause the monster to fall down to the ground for a second before it proceeded down the street again. "Well, I guess that answers my question," Ranma said, quickly jumping out of the way as the monster shot out a fireball toward him. Ranma found himself starting to get annoyed about being shot it. He didn't like being shot at.  
Quickly leaping out of the projectiles way, Ranma landing inn the middle of the street where he proceeded to jam his fingers several times into the ground, shouting "Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" over and over again.  
Down the street, the ground below the monster erupted upwards. Due to the monster's thick hide, it seemed more of an irritant than anything else.  
Realizing that that technique didn't seem all that useful against a monster that large in size, Ranma found himself ducking for cover as the monster shout another fireball toward him, incinerating the building which he had emerged from before.  
"Goddamn!" Ranma started getting pissed, "Quit shooting fireballs at me! How would you goddamn like it if I did it to you!"  
Ranma held his hand forward and shot out a few good ki-blasts right at the monster, hitting it mostly in the chest area, sending it backwards where it fell onto its back as if it had been shoved, not struck. "Damn, this things really freaking tough," Ranma said, watching as the monster started getting back up once again, knocking down several buildings as its appendages and arms flailed about to get itself back on its feet.  
"Man, I wish I had a Utility Belt and some kind anti-monster pills," Ranma smirked.  
He laughed at his own joke but stopped all of a sudden when he caught sight of Naruto. The young boy was standing on a building overlooking the giant monster as it proceeded to get back on its feet.  
"Oh, that kid's crazy," Ranma said, realizing exactly what Naruto was about to do.  
Ranma watched in surprise as he didn't see one Naruto hop off the building and landed on the monster's head, but several dozen, jumping off landing on the monster in rapid succession as if in a single-file line. Before long, there were several dozen Naruto on top of the monster.  
"Man, that kid's sure got guts" Ranma smirked, "All right, that sounds like a plan,"  
Ranma ran forward to join him as the monster was momentarily distracted as it whirled around, shaking itself loose of its hitchhikers. Most of the Naruto were thrown off quite easily, disappearing in a puff of smoke when they hit the ground and the sides of nearby buildings that were still standing but some held on fast.  
Leaping high in the air, Ranma landed on the monster's shoulder and quickly climbed his way to the top of the head. There, he saw several Naruto clinging onto the monster's back as if his life depended on it as it continued to shake around.  
Ranma made his way to one of the Naruto. While not all that worried about the fact that he was standing on top of a giant monster, Ranma took care to stay low to lower his center of gravity to give himself better balance. "You guys are crazy! Didja know that?" Ranma found himself shouting over the sounds of buildings being destroyed as the monster continued to shake violently.  
He noticed that Naruto seemed to be breathing very heavily, as if creating all those Replicants of himself had taken quite a bit out of him. Then again, considering he had been fighting Neji not even a half hour ago and had to basically carry Sasuke to safety, it was understandable that he was tired.  
"What are you talking about?" one of the Naruto's answered, "You're right up here with us!"  
"My reason is that I have complete disregard over a thing called self-  
preservation," Ranma grinned, "What's your excuse?" "Because, the real me isn't here!" that Naruto answered, freeing one hand and pointing in the direction of a nearby building where a lone figure was standing, watching everything.  
Because he released one hand to point, he ended up getting thrown off the monster where he slammed against the building, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Ranma couldn't help but feel very relieved when he realized that these were all clones, cannon fodder so to speak.  
Glancing in the direction of the building, he noticed another huge batch of Naruto jumping off and landing on the monster, raining down upon it by the dozens.  
"What the hell's he doing?" Ranma asked, contemplating jumping up to ask Naruto that question face-to-face, "Isn't he gonna burn that chakra thing of his out if he continues doing that?"  
Ranma suddenly found himself thrown off the monster's back and falling down to the ground below, suddenly feeling an immense weight press down upon him as the monster rolled on its back, rolling on top of Ranma in the process before he could react and jump out of the way. Ranma had been to distracted wondering what Naruto was up to jump away until it was too late.  
When the monster rolled itself all the way around and back onto its feet and off of him, Ranma found himself staring up at the belly of the monster as it stood above him, Ranma's entire body embedded into the middle of the street. Ranma said nothing, a look of surprise on his face. A 100-plus-foot badger-like monster had just rolled over him, something he had never experienced before until now. That was a good enough reason to be surprised if any.  
While basically unhurt form the experience, Ranma tough enough that the ground below him would give out before his body would be crushed, he was still disoriented. There was no way anyone could have a 100-plus-foot monster roll over him and not be disoriented.  
Ranma blinked several times, trying to gather his bearings. When he found himself looking up toward a giant claw as the monster tried crash it down upon him, he quickly rolled out of the body-forming crater and toward the side, the claw narrowly missing him.  
"Holy crap, that was a close call!" Ranma said to himself as he rolled to his feet to face the one of the monster's legs. When he noticed that the individual claws themselves were larger than him was tall, he gulped nervously.  
Looking up, he noticed the monster looking right down on him with malicious-  
filled eyes, snarling at him and displaying massive razor-sharp teeth. As they looked at each other, Ranma noticed the upper portion of Gaara sticking out of the monster's forehead. "Could that be his weakness?" Ranma asked himself. He noticed Gaara seemed to be doing nothing, as if he was possessed or perhaps in a deep trance.  
Ranma jumped out of the way as a giant claw slashed at him, missing him by inches.  
Why couldn't I be fighting some kinda vegetarian-looking monster, Ranma thought to himself as he jumped out of the way as the monster slashed at him, landing a safe distance away. Why do the things I fight against always hafta have claws and fangs? Why can't I be fighting a creature that looked like a koala bear or such?  
Noticing that Naruto seemed to be up to something as he continuously produced clones of himself and having them jump of the roof he was on and onto the back of the monster, Ranma realized that he should not run away and risk luring the monster away.  
"What the hell is that kid doing?" Ranma asked, "And what the hell did he do with Sasuke? I hope he didn't ditch him in some drainage ditch or something,"  
Naruto had dropped Sasuke off with Ikura-sensei at the academy. Ikura was his old sensei from when Naruto and Sasuke went to ninja academy together, before the two of them had graduated. Sasuke was in good hands.  
The monster, annoyed with having many Naruto clones on top of it, shook itself violently, throwing off all the Naruto that had managed to land on it and hold on for dear life. Puffs of smoke could be seen everywhere like fireworks as countless Naruto crashed against the pavement and nearby buildings and disappeared.  
"Naruto!" Ranma called out toward Gaara.  
Naruto looked down toward Ranma upon hearing his name.  
Ranma pointed toward Gaara, "Go after Gaara! I'll distract it!"  
Naruto looked at where Ranma was pointing and nodded, as if he had seemed to understand what Ranma was implying. While Naruto had had his own plans, to waste all of his chakra so that he could tap in the special chakra buried deep within him to summon a giant toad for help, he figured Ranma might have come up with a good alternative.  
Ranma ran toward the side as the monster kept continued to focus its attention on him, intent on getting its revenge on the foolish mortal that dared to attack. He ran around it in a way so that the monster ended up with its rear end facing the building the building Naruto was standing on.  
"Holy shit!" Ranma's eyes widened as he saw the monster take in a deep breath, readying itself to shoot a fireball out of its mouth and toward Ranma at an extremely close range.  
Ranma ran forward, dodging the fireball, running underneath the monster's underside and out from under the monster's back legs where he triangle jumped off the building Naruto had been standing on and landing on the monster.

new stuff 12/22

Once on top of the monster, Ranma saw Naruto making his way toward Gaara.  
"Attack him!" Ranma shouted out toward Naruto.  
Without needing to be told twice, Naruto did just that. He ran up to where Gaara was and punched him with all his might.  
Ranma winced, feeling sorry for Gaara as the boy's body ended up arching backward, his head blown backwards so the he found himself looking skyward before springing back to its natural position again.  
The monster jerked its entire body as it had been suddenly struck hard, Naruto's punch seemingly having more of an effect on the monster than Ranma's own ki-blasts.  
Unfortunately, the sudden jerking of the monster threw Naruto off its back.  
Realizing that he and Naruto were been standing on the back of a hundred foot monster, and Naruto had just been shaken of, Ranma quickly assumed that a fall of that height could kill him.  
Ranma made a quick dash up the monster's back and leapt off, angling his body straight in the direction of where Naruto would be as he fell so he could intercept him.  
Catching Naruto and landing safely on the ground, Ranma gently placed Naruto on his feet as the young boy looked up at him, a surprised.  
"Um, thanks," Naruto said.  
Ranma quickly said, "Get yourself out of here! I'll finish the monster off!"  
"But-" Naruto looked like he was about to argue, like he wanted to help.  
"Now!" Ranma said in a booming and commanding voice, frightening Naruto into breaking out in a sprint away from where Ranma was. Ranma watched Naruto run away, forced to dodge a few times as the monster covered from Naruto's attack as it slashed at him once again. When Ranma was satisfied Naruto was safe, he turned his full attention on the monster, looking up toward Gaara as he could be seen on the monster's forehead, his upper half sticking out of it.  
Leaping up high into the air, Ranma landed on the monster's snout and quickly ran up and onto its forehead.  
For a brief moment, Ranma and Gaara made eye contact. Ranma noticed the glassy look on Gaara's face which seemed to indicate that he wasn't even aware of where he was, as if he had been possessed and his lower body took on the form of that badger-like monster.  
Ranma gave Gaara a slightly smile. "Sorry, kid, no hard feeling," he said.  
With that said, Ranma slapped Gaara right in the face.  
Ranma found himself standing over Gaara as the young boy lay on his back in the middle of the street. Surrounding them were remnants of sand as it seemed to float off an disappear is if taken away by the winds.  
After Ranma had struck Gaara, the monster reeled in pain as if it had been struck directly, falling to the ground unconscious where it seemed to melt away into nothing but sand.  
The monster had one weakness, that being Gaara. So long as Gaara was in that trance-like state, the monster was able to take form. This was because the monster was actually a part of Gaara's subconscious. Simply attacking Gaara and knocking him out of that trance-like state was enough to defeat the monster.  
"Damn, that monster was made of sand?" Ranma asked himself, "That sure surprised the heck outta me,"  
He looked down at Gaara as the young boy looked up at him, a bit confused as to what was going on.  
"You caused quite a bit of trouble," Ranma smirked. The fact that he had just been fighting for his life against the monster that was Gaara didn't seem to bother Ranma one bit.  
With the monster no longer a threat, Ranma turned his attention toward the stadium where he noticed that the cube-like barrier was no longer up. This lead him to believe that the two combatants inside seemed to have taken the battle outside the barrier.  
Ranma glanced toward the side where he saw two figures. They stepped into the street from a dark alley. Ranma recognized the both of them from before in the stadium. One of them was the girl with the giant fan. The other had markings on his face and had what looked like a doll wrapped in bandages strapped around his back. He was the boy who had forfeiting the match before Shikamaru and the fan girl fought.  
"You two his friend?" Ranma asked, jerking a thumb toward Gaara.  
Gaara was conscious but seemed very disoriented, as if he had no idea where he was and needed time to gather his bearings. A quick glance into his eyes and Ranma ascertained that this was a young boy with a very troubled past.  
The two individuals regarded Ranma, not really knowing what to do. They had been observing Ranma from a good distance away, worried about getting to close to the action and getting hurt in the process, where they had seen Ranma basically single-handedly take down the monster.  
"Um, we don't want any trouble," the girl with the fan said nervously. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the two of them would not be able to take on Ranma, "We just want Gaara back,"  
"If you don't give Gaara back to us, we'll be forced to kill you," her partner said dumbly.  
Ranma narrowed his eyes, "Is that a threat? I don't like threats, even if it's from some young kid like yourself,"  
"N-no, it isn't a threat!" the girl said, stepping forward between her friend and Ranma, remembering how Ranma wasn't one bit intimidated when he and Gaara exchanged words. Ranma crossed his arms in front of his chest, "It sounded like a threat to me,"  
"We just want to have Gaara back," the girl said, "It's clear that he's been defeated and can't harm anyone anymore," Ranma looked down toward Gaara as the young boy was sitting upright, rubbing at his temples like he had a massive headache.  
For a brief moment, their eyes made contact, that enough for Ranma.  
There was a moment of awkward silence as Ranma seemed to drink in a wealth of information as to who Gaara was and what made him tick. He found out things about the boy that made him actually feel sorry for him. The boy seemed to have had a very troubled past, the son of a father that wanted him killed. Possessing no friends or having anyone that cared for him in his life, the only thing he knew was how to kill. "You think you have a troubled past?" Ranma asked Gaara, a hint of coldness to his voice, "You make me laugh,"  
Gaara found himself just staring up at Ranma, wondering what the comment meant.  
"You didn't have it rough. I had it rough," Ranma asked as if angry at the boy, "You're just a young boy that has gone through some hard times. Try going through hard times for several decades, then you'll be in my shoes,"  
Gaara said nothing.  
"Just a word of advice, kid," Ranma said, "It's stupid feeling sorry for yourself. There's a lot more people out there that's had pasts a lot worse than you've had it. You can choose to let it consume you, you will eventually miss that one moment that'll change your life for the better and make you glad you're alive,"  
Gaara continued to remain silent. Ranma knew he was getting through to the young boy. They were somewhat similar, kindred spirits trying to fight against incredible odds. The only difference was that Ranma had been through it before and made it through to the other side intact.  
"It's still not too late for you to realize that there's more to life than killing," Ranma turned around and started walking away, walking in the direction of the stadium.  
"Who are you?" the girl asked toward Ranma's retreating back.  
"Think of me as an older version of Gaara. The only difference is that I didn't let my past consume me,"  
Ranma, curious as to the Hokage's welfare, had decided to head on over to the stadium. Afterall, that was where he last saw him.  
"Ranma!" came Naruto's voice.  
"Hey," Ranma greeted the young boy that came running down the street.  
He noticed a man walking at a leisurely pace behind Naruto as Naruto came running up to him. The mean looked to be in his middle-ages and had a large mane of white hair, his bangs held back by what looked like a headband made of stone. He had two red lines on his face that came down from his eyes that reminded Ranma of an eternal stream of tears.  
The man had a huge scroll attached to his back. It made Ranma wonder what it was with people carrying large things over their back. There was Gaara with that large gourd, that guy with the large doll wrapped in bandages, and that girl with the large fan. And now it was this guy with the large scroll.  
Ranma sensed a great presence to the man, as if he was powerful enough to take on several Kakashi.  
"Look who I met?" Naruto gestured toward the man that walked up to them. "How do you do?" Ranma bowed, "I'm Ranma,"  
"I am the amazing Gama-Senin!" the man said, did a little pose, "In the north, in the south, in the east, and in the west, the legendary three ninjas' white-  
haired frog summoner. The handsome man that can silence even a crying child! I am the legendary Jiraiya!"  
"Huh?" Ranma said, seriously reminded of that person, Gai. He seemed have a rather eccentric personality. In a sense, the man kind of reminded Ranma of an older version of Naruto, a bit off the wall personality-wise.  
There was a moment of awkward silence as Ranma looked at the man named Jiraiya. Naruto cleared his throat, jerking a thumb toward the man next to him, "I bumped into Jiraiya while I was running away from you and that monster like you told me,"  
"Okay," Ranma said.  
"What happened to that monster?" Naruto asked, "I saw it from a distance where it suddenly disappeared,"  
"I defeated it," Ranma smirked.  
"You did?" Naruto asked.  
"Yep," he said.  
"How?" Naruto shouted in disbelief.  
Ranma shrugged. He didn't care about going into details about it, "I did nothing special. I simply hit Gaara and the monster just fell to the ground. Before I knew it, I found myself swimming through sand as the monster seemed to instantly melt itself into nothing but sand and disappear,"  
"Wow!" Naruto said.  
Jiraiya regarded Ranma intently as he said, "You must be a very powerful person to have been able to take on Shuukaku,"  
"Shuukaku?" Ranma asked, "Who's that? The monster?"  
Jiraiya nodded, "Yes. I recognized the creature. I haven't seen him in around fifteen years. I was very surprised to see you holding your own against him when I arrived,"  
Ranma said, "When you arrived? I didn't even notice you,"  
"I was nearby watching you," the man said. He had been near the outskirts of the city, about to take on the three-headed serpent when Ranma showed up. When he noticed Ranma seemed to be holding his own against his opponent, Jiraiya had decided to stay back and observe, not wanting to distract Ranma from his battle.  
"I bumped into him while running away like you had said," Naruto added. "You're a very powerful young man," Jiraiya stated, "I've never seen someone uses techniques like yourself, emitting chakra like the way you did,"  
Ranma shrugged. He was never all that good at taking compliments, afterall.  
He then jerked a thumb in the direction of the stadium, "As much as I'd like to hang around and talk, I think we should go check on the Hokage. Hopefully, he's still all right. Whoever that Orochimaru guy you and Sasuke had said, hopefully, the Hokage can hold his own against him,"  
"Orochimaru!" Jiraiya's eyes widened at hearing the name, "He's here?"  
Ranma smirked, "I take it you know who he is? I dunno who he is but Naruto and someone else pointed out that they saw him and the Hokage fighting on the top of the stadium. I think we should go check him out and see that he's all right,"  
Jiraiya didn't hang around to hear Ranma finish his statement for he took off at a sprint toward the stadium.  
Naruto and Ranma looked at one another. They both turned toward the stadium and took off running closely behind Jiraiya. Ranma took care to keep his pace down to keep pace with Naruto's.  
"I take it he and this Orochimaru know one another?" Ranma asked, still running.  
"I guess," Naruto said, "I only bumped into him a minute ago. I never got around to mentioning it to him until you did,"  
"He seems strong," Ranma stated, "That Jiraiya person. Heh, it seems like this world's full of strong people,"  
Naruto answered, "I dunno if he's really strong or not. I've never seen him really fight or such, but it seems like he really knows a lot, even more so than Kakashi-sensei and Kakashi-sensei's taught me most of what I know up until recently. He seems really good at summoning frogs,"  
"Frogs, huh?" Ranma smirked, "That's an interesting technique,"  
"That's what I was about to do," Naruto stated, "I was trying to use up all my chakra so that I can summon Gamabunta to fight against that monster Gaara had turned into. Gamabunta's this huge toad,"  
Ranma said, "That doesn't make sense. Why were you trying to waste all your ki? Is there some other kinda ki you can tap into after you wasted all your ki? And no, don't even bother asking, I'm not gonna refer to it as chakra. You can call it chakra. I'm gonna call it ki,"  
Naruto said, "Anyway, I found out I have two levels of chakra so if I use up all my regular chakra, there's another level of chakra I can use that only I seem to be able to use. It's with that chakra I can summon,"  
Ranma smirked, "I'd like to see it one day...if I stay around long enough," Naruto didn't hear the comment as he ask, "I saw you shooting these balls of chakra from your hands. Can you show me that? Is it hard?"  
Ranma chuckled, "It's not necessarily difficult for someone like myself to do but I dunno how hard it is to learn from scratch. I learned it so long ago that I don't remember if it was hard or not to learn,"  
"Can you teach me?" Naruto asked eagerly, "I'd love to learn something like that,"  
Ranma shrugged.  
"Maybe..."

The Hokage's lifeless body lay as several people stood surrounding him, staring down at him in disbelief. They were all standing on the rooftop where he and the guy named Orochimaru had fought. Standing among the crowd was Kakashi and Gai and Jiraiya and Ranma. Everyone looked down at their dead Hokage, a sense of great sadness in their hearts.  
Naruto was not there, having spotted the dead Hokage and having run off to be alone, so no one could see him cry.  
Jiraiya looked sad as well but seemed to be able to steel his emotions fairly well.  
It turned out that the Hokage had sacrificed his own life to defeat Orochimaru and protect the village. He had not been assassinated as so many believed, killed by Orochimaru. Instead, he had chosen to sacrifice himself to defeat Orochimaru and defeat him.  
In a way, one would assume that the man that survived the battle to the death was the victor, that being Orochimaru. However, given the circumstances, he lost the battle, walking away from battle no longer possessing the ability to use chakra, the use of his arms destroyed in the battle. He might as well be as good as dead without the use of chakra in a world like that.  
There was a smile on the Hokage's face, a look of peace on his visage, as if he had accepted his death readily.  
Ranma looked down at the Hokage. He gave the old man a smile.  
"At least he died doing what he believed was right," Ranma stated. "What makes you say that?" the bowl-cut man named Gai spat, "And who are you anyway?"  
"The young man's right," Jiraiya said, "If you look at his face, you can tell that that's the face of a man who wasn't killed but of a man that sacrificed his life willingly and allowed himself to die,"  
Ranma felt a bid sad. Even though he had only met the Hokage a short while ago and only talked to him briefly, he liked the old man. There was something about his character that he liked. Besides, the man helped him out and did Ranma the favor of telling him where he should go if he wanted information to try and get back to his own world, without expecting anything in return.  
Ranma asked, "Anyone here know what happened?"  
Everyone looked at one another, not really knowing what to say. This was because Ranma was a complete stranger to the group and no one there seemed to know where he came from. One didn't know if they could trust him or not.  
Jiraiya said, "I'm interested in knowing what happened as well. Don't worry about Ranma here. I'll vouch for him,"  
No one seemed to be aware of Ranma's role and how he had defeated Gaara by himself. While everyone had been aware of a monster wrecking havoc to the city, the arrival of Jiraiya made everyone believe Jiraiya had been the reason of the monster's recent disappearance.  
Kakashi explained what had happened and what he believed had happened. It seemed like the Hidden Leaf village was invaded by countless ninjas from both the Hidden Sound and Hidden Sand village. "This village was invaded?" Ranma asked, "How come I didn't see explosions and such? All I saw were two large monsters, one that looked like a badger and one that looked like a three-headed serpent,"  
"It seems like their appearance were mainly as a smoke screen," Kakashi answered, "We were invaded by a couple hundred ninjas from both invading villages. The monsters were around to distract us from the Hokage's assassination attempt,"  
Ranma smirked, "It seems like not many of you guys were manipulated into shirking your posts to fight off the monsters, huh?"  
"We had our own problems," Kakashi answered, "We were busy fighting off countless ninjas that seemed to be showing up from no where to deal with monsters. I guess we're lucky Jiraiya was around to take care of our monsters,"  
Ranma said nothing, doing nothing more than simply shrugging.  
He didn't care if no one acknowledged that he was the one that took care of the monsters. So long as he knew he defeated the monsters, that was all that mattered.  
"Actually," Jiraiya said, "I wasn't the reason why both monsters were defeated. You should thank our new arrival here,"  
Everyone looked at Ranma, and then at Jiraiya, and then back at Ranma again.  
"You took care of both monsters?" someone next to Kakashi asked, a man that had a beard that reminded Ranma of Gendo Ikari for some reason.  
"Actually, I probably wouldn'tve done it without Naruto's help," Ranma lied. He would've found out of the monster's weakness on his own without much trouble. Naruto simply confirmed Ranma's assumption that attacking Gaara's body while he was sticking out of the monster's forehead was its weakness.  
Jiraiya smirked toward Ranma but said nothing, as if he knew that Ranma could've defeated the monster all on his own. Ranma noticed Jiraiya smirking and got the funny feeling that Jiraiya was a lot more perceptive than he let on.  
Ranma glanced around and noticed many of the people seemed on the verge of tears. He glanced down at the Hokage, "You guy's shouldn't be all sad that he's dead. He's gone to a much better place,"  
"Even if that's the case, we can't help but start missing him already," Kakashi stated in a soft voice, "I guess you wouldn't understand because you don't know the Hokage like we've known him. He was a very good man,"  
Ranma said, "Oh, I'm sure he was a good man. I could tell,"  
"What are we going to do?" one ninja asked, "With the third Hokage gone, we now need to find a fifth Hokage,"  
"Fifth Hokage?" Ranma asked.  
"The four died saving the village in similar fashion as the third," Jiraiya said, "The third stepped down when a forth was chosen. However, when the fourth died, the third assumed the role as Hokage again. Now that he's gone, we need to find a fifth,"  
"Ah," Ranma said, "That makes sense,"  
"We need to find a fifth Hokage," Kakashi said softly, "It won't be long before word leaks out about our village being without a Hokage and at a vulnerable state and neighboring villages aside from the Hidden Sand and Hidden Sound villages thinking that now would be a good time to invade. The restoration of this villages power is of high priority. We need a strong leader to rely on,"  
Most of the people instinctively looked at Jiraiya. "I'm pretty sure the village elders will be making a decisions within a day or two on who should be chosen as this village's new Hokage," Kakashi stated.  
Everyone continued to regard Jiraiya.  
"I'm not the type for it," Jiraiya said, holding a hand, already knowing what everyone was thinking, "I'm not cut out to take on such a role as this village's Hokage,"  
"Well, who could?" Kakashi asked.  
Jiraiya smirked.  
"I think I know someone who could,"

new stuff 12/25

Ranma entered a ramen shop.  
A young female waitress spotted him and quickly approached him.  
"Welcome," she smiled warmly. She looked to be around Ranma's age, perhaps a bit older, but not by a year at most.  
Ranma was there because he was hungry and needed some food. Despite the fact that the village had been attacked by two monsters, even though one actually killed the other eventually, Ranma found it surprising how little daily life around the village seemed to have been effected, which was why the ramen shop was still opened. One would think in the case of an invasion, shop owners would close up and evacuate the city.  
"Hi," Ranma said, "How're y'doing?"  
"I'm fine," the girl said.  
"I'm Ranma," he said, bowing politely.  
"I'm Kari," she bowed back.  
"Kari, um, I was wondering if you can do my a favor," Ranma said, giving a meek smile.  
"What kind of favor?" the girl asked curiously, regarding Ranma for a moment. "Well, I have no money," Ranma began, "But I'm really hungry. I was wondering if you or the shop owner might be able to give me a meal for free, if it isn't too much trouble,"  
The girl looked at Ranma, surprised at the request. It wasn't every day that someone would show up at the shop and genuinely ask for a meal. "Sure, have a seat," she smiled, "I'm sure we can do something to help you out,"  
"I'll be happy to wash dishes or something if you need help," Ranma said.  
The waitress waved a hand dismissively, "Oh, don't worry about it. As a matter of fact, everyone in this shop's in a really good mood,"  
"Oh?" Ranma asked.  
The girl nodded, "Yes. Everyone working today was so worried that our restaurant was going to get wrecked during that monster attack,"  
Ranma smirked, "I guess you guys got off lucky,"  
"Yes, very lucky," she concurred.  
"I have no idea what happened to that monster, but whoever got rid of it, we owe them our thanks," she said.  
Ranma just smiled. He found it really nice that he didn't have to tell them that he was actually the person that saved their shop from the monster in order to get himself a free meal. It helped reinforce his mentality that people were kind enough and were willing to help out a stranger if he or she simply asked nicely.  
"Anyway, are you really hungry?" the girl asked, "Would you like me to bring you out a lot to eat?"  
"I'm interested in eating enough so that I can make my journey east," Ranma answered.  
"Oh? Where to?" she asked.  
"Hidden Mist Village," he answered.  
"Hidden Mist Village?" the girl asked, "Over in Wave Country? That's a long trip. You're not going to be able to make it there after only eating one meal,"  
Ranma said, "That's no problem. I can find my own food. It's just that while I'm here, I'd like to see if I can eat a normal meal instead of basically hunting for my own meal while I make my journey,"  
Ranma planned on leaving for hidden Mist Village after he was done eating. There was no reason for him to hang around on this world longer than need be. He had his own problems, afterall. "Please, have a seat," the girl gestured toward a random empty seat, "I'll help you out. What would you like?"  
"Um, whatever's fine," Ranma said, "I just don't wanna really be a bother. Heck, surprise me with anything. I won't mind,"  
The girl smiled as she headed off for the kitchen, "Okay. I think I've got something you'll like,"  
"Thanks," he said, sitting down.  
Ranma glanced around the small restaurant and noticed how empty it was. He wasn't all that surprised since this village was attacked not even an hour ago. Something like that would most likely make people stay in their homes for a day until they felt it was safe to come out again.  
He noticed a familiar looking figure sitting by the counter.  
"Naruto," Ranma called out.  
Naruto turned around from his bowl of ramen when he heard his name. He looked surprised when he spotted Ranma.  
"Ah! What are you doing here?" Naruto pointed.  
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Ranma answered, getting up and approaching Naruto, "But judging from the way you're stuffing your face, it seems like you're simply eating,"  
He took a seat next to Naruto. Taking a quick glance at him, he noticed Naruto seemed to have had a really good cry not too long ago and was well on the way to recovery. Whoever the Hokage was to him, it seemed like a good cry over his death was just what he needed.  
"I'm here to grab a bite to eat," Ranma stated.  
"Same here," Naruto said, his voice soft, "It usually helps me forget whatever's bothering me,"  
"You mean like the death of the Hokage?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto said nothing, returning to his eating. Before long, he finished eating his meal. It never took long for Naruto to finish his meal. Had he been alone, he would've finished his meal, paid, and left. But since Ranma was around, there was no reason for him to leave.  
Ranma said, "Anyway, I'm sorry about what happened to the Hokage. I've only met him for a few minutes but he seemed like a really good man,"  
"He was a very good man," Naruto said between gulps, "Sure, he was old, but I don't think it was his time,"  
"Oh, I'll hafta disagree," Ranma said. The Hokage had died smiling. It meant he accepted death. The moment one accepted death, then it was their time to go. It was the way things worked. "What?" Naruto said.  
"You don't understand," Ranma said, "You're too young to understand,"  
Naruto countered, "And you would understand? You're only, what, two years older than me, if that,"  
Ranma chuckled, "If you say so,"  
Naruto went back to eating.  
"Oh yeah, I have a funny feeling Jiraiya's gonna be coming around looking for you in a day or so," Ranma added.  
"Oh? Why do you say that?" Naruto asked, "What, does he want to teach me some new technique or something?" Ranma shook his head, "Not quite. He was mentioning about him going out to look for a person named Tsunade and that he plans on having someone come with him,"  
"Tsunade?" Naruto asked, "Who's that?"  
Ranma shrugged, "Beats me. I wasn't paying all that much attention. He was mentioning about how he plans on going on to find this woman named Tsunade because she'll be a perfect replacement for the Hokage,"  
"What?" Naruto shouted, "I can't believe how cold everyone is. The Hokage was assassinated not an hour ago and people have already started talking about finding his replacement?"  
Ranma smirked, "Heh, that's the way the world works. Also, the Hokage wasn't assassinated. I saw his face. It seems like he choose death over actually getting killed by that Orochimaru guy,"  
"Choose death over getting killed?" Naruto scratched his head, "That doesn't make sense,"  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, "It's not really all that important anyway,"  
Naruto shrugged. He then asked, "So, Jiraiya plans on searching for this Tsunade person, huh? Why would he want me to come with him?"  
Ranma said, "I dunno if he will or won't ask you to tag along. It's just that I have a funny feeling he would. And I'm usually good with my gut feeling. And who knows, he'll probably teach you some techniques along the way,"  
The mention of technique made Naruto quickly turn toward him.  
"Speaking of which, what were those balls of chakra I saw you shooting out of your hand and toward that monster before?" Naruto asked, "Can you show me how to do that? Those were incredible!"  
Ranma said, "They're ki-blasts. Since chakra and ki are the same, they're exactly as how you described it, balls of chakra,"  
"Yeah, but how did you do it?" Naruto asked, "Can you teach me to do that? I'd love to learn something like that,"  
Ranma smirked. He found it amusing how Naruto seemed to have completely forgotten that he was very sad over the Hokage's death.  
"Sorry, but I can't," Ranma answered, "I wouldn't mind teaching you a few things because I'm pretty sure you're a quick learner, but I can't,"  
"Why not?" Naruto had expected that answer but still seemed very disappointed nonetheless.  
Ranma answered, "I'm leaving. I'm heading out for Hidden Mist village right after I'm done eating. I guess I'm lucky to have bumped into you because that gives me the chance to say goodbye,"  
"You're leaving?" Naruto asked, "Why?"  
"I wanna head home," Ranma said, "I don't belong here,"  
"How come? I still don't get it," Naruto persisted, "This is a nice village. Sure, it got invaded and you had to fight off this giant monster, but you happened to show up here on the wrong day,"  
Ranma laughed. He then said, "It's different. I have a home to go to. I like being home,"  
"Oh," Naruto said, "So, how come you're going to Hidden Mist Village?"  
"The Hokage mentioned about there being some information guild being there shortly after I showed up," Ranma answered, "I need get some information that might help me get home and that's the place where I should check. Anyway, I'm heading out after I'm done eating so I won't be able to teach you anything,"  
Naruto's eyes lit up, "Hey, how about if I come with you? I'll come with you to Hidden Mist Village,"  
Ranma said, "You? Tag along with me?"  
"Yeah," Naruto nodded emphatically, "We can go together,"  
"I don't think so," Ranma said, "Dontcha have parents that're gonna worry about you?"  
Naruto's lips became a thin line.  
After a moment, he gave a fake smile, as if smiling helped prevent tears from shedding, "I don't have any parents,"  
"Oh," Ranma said softly, regretfully, "I'm sorry to hear that,"  
Naruto gave a forced smile, lying through his teeth, "Don't worry. I'm used to it, not having parents,"  
"I dunno about that," Ranma stated, "I never got used to it,"  
"What, you mean you don't have any parents either?" Naruto asked.  
"Not anymore," he answered, "They were killed,"  
"They were?" Naruto asked, eyes wide with curiosity. Ranma was silent for a moment before he said, "Yeah,"  
"How long ago, if you don't mind my asking?" Naruto asked.  
"When I was eighteen," Ranma answered, "To me, that was well over eighty years ago,"  
Naruto was very confused by that comment, "Huh?"  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "It's a long story,"  
"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Naruto said after a moment, "I know exactly how it feels, not having parents. Sometimes, you feel completely alone,"  
Ranma was silent as he thought about that comment. He did remember the times following the Nerima Massacre, when he lived alone up in the mountains of China. There were many nights where he would have nightmares about what he had gone through, of seeing his friends and family killed right before his very eyes. Those nights were very lonely for him and there were many times he wished he had someone around to comfort him. But alas, he was alone, everyone he knew and held dear to his heart gone. Only the thought of avenging their deaths had driven Ranma on to keep living.  
Ranma said, "Forget about it. It's not important. Anyway, even if you have no parents to worry over you, I'm sure there's someone out there that's gonna worry about you. That's why I don't want you tagging along,"  
Naruto noticed how quickly Ranma seemed to change the subject from his own parents and onto something else. It made him realize that, much like himself, Ranma didn't really like talking about his past either.  
"Besides, because Jiraiya's probably gonna be looking for you to have you go with him as he goes look for Tsunade, that's all the more reason for you to stay here," Ranma added, "Also, if you go with him, I'm sure he'll teach you some new stuff,"  
Ranma wondered what kind of technique he would teach Naruto. Naruto said, "I don't want to learn what he can teach me. I want to learn what you can teach me,"  
"I'm flattered that you'd rather learn from me, but the answer's still no," Ranma said, "Heck, what makes you think I would teach you anyway? Just because you tag along, that doesn't obligate me to teach you anything,"  
Naruto said, "But you would teach me, wouldn't you? I noticed how impressed you were when you saw my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique,"  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" Ranma asked.  
"The one where I can produce clones of myself," Naruto answered.  
"You have a point," Ranma said, "That impressed the hell outta me,"  
Ranma paused for a moment as he wondered what it would be like to know that technique. He could use it to get himself out of trouble with all the girls. For instance, if he 'accidentally' stumbled into the women's section of a bathhouse, he could use that technique to summon a clone so the clone could get killed by the fuming women instead of himself.  
Naruto came up with an idea, "How about this? If you teach me that 'ki-blast' technique, I'll teach you how to do the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Hey, as interesting as that cloning technique is, the answer's still no,"  
"Fine, then you'll hafta learn the technique from someone else," Naruto bluffed.  
Ranma shrugged, "Fine by me. Besides, watching how you do it, it'll only take me some time to figure it out on my own anyway,"  
Naruto smirked, "Fine, then let's see you do it," "Nope," Ranma said.  
"That's because you can't do it!" Naruto smiled triumphantly.  
"So, can you shoot ki-blasts like I can?" Ranma grinned.  
Naruto said nothing, unable to come up with a retort.  
Ranma chuckled, "Good, so don't think yourself all high and mighty just because you can do a technique I've never done before. I've probably forgotten more techniques than lots of people here remember,"  
Naruto said, "You shouldn't be all that cocky. You've probably never went up against someone like my sensei, Kakashi,"  
"Oh? Why do you say that?" Ranma asked, curious.  
"He knows over a thousand special techniques," Naruto said proudly, "And with his Sharingan ability, he can copy your own techniques,"  
"Sharingan ability?" Ranma asked, "What's that?"  
"It's a special ability that allows him to see through illusions and such," Naruto said, "And it also allows him to copy your techniques one hundred percent just by watching it,"  
Ranma's eyes perked, "Really? That's interesting. Heh, maybe I should spar against him. Wouldn't mind seeing how his thousand plus special techniques would fair against someone like myself,"  
"Then again," Naruto thought aloud, "I wonder how well Kakashi's Sharingan ability can work for him. Those ki-blasts you throw looked filled with so much chakra that him reproducing a single one of 'em will drain him completely,"  
Ranma chuckled, "Shooting ki-blasts isn't for the faint of heart, that's for sure,"  
"Then how do you do it?" Naruto asked, "That technique is awesome. I would really like to learn,"  
"Why dontcha drop it?" Ranma said, "That Jiraiya person'll probably teach you some good techniques. I'm sure whatever he teaches you will rival whatever I can teach you,"  
Naruto said, "How? You're shooting giant projectiles full of chakra? How can he possibly teach me something greater than that?"  
"Who knows, maybe he already knows how to do ki-blasts and he'll teach you them," Ranma shrugged, "You need to get over it, trying to learn from me. Besides, I don't really care to teach anyone anything. I just wanna go home, not hang around teaching some kid a technique that might eventually be used to commit murder or something,"  
"Yeah, I would commit murder if I hafta," Naruto said confidently, "And having a technique like that would make it all the easier to do so,"  
Ranma was surprised at the comment and how serious Naruto said his words.  
"I would not hesitate to kill someone to protect people I care for," Naruto said, his voice completely serious, "I think knowing something like that would make it much easier to protect them,"  
Ranma said nothing.  
If he thought about it, he was much the same person. He had killed to protect people he cared for as well. For instance, he killed Keel Lorenz to protect his friends. And he never hesitated in doing so.  
"Dontcha have people you care for that you would do the same for?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma answered, "Actually, I've done so already,"  
"You and I are alike," Naruto said, "We both don't have parents so we both know how lonely it can be. But we've found people we care for and know that we would do anything to protect them,"  
Ranma smirked, "So? Just because we have some things in common, that doesn't mean I should teach you," "Why not?" Naruto asked.  
"Because, I'm not hanging around to teach you," Ranma answered, "And I have no intention of having you tag along. Where I'm going, I'm not coming back, and I'll be damned if I have you come with me,"  
"You said you're going to Hidden Mist Village," Naruto stated, "I've been there before. And I know the way back from there also. If I go with you there, after we get there, I can come back home on my own,"  
Ranma said, "Right, like I'll let a, what, twelve year old kid walk home alone from there. I don't care if you do believe you're old enough or competent enough to make your way back home from there, I don't want to be the reason for your having to do so,"  
"Fine, then I'll just follow you against your will," Naruto said, "That way, it'll seem like we're traveling together but you don't hafta worry about me,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Go ahead, good luck getting me to teach you,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
That had never really occurred to him. He had been so eager at figuring out how to go along with Ranma that he never thought about Ranma not wanting to teach him. If Ranma didn't want to teach him, he was basically out of luck. "Please, I really want to learn it," Naruto said after a long moment of silence, a sad look on his face.  
Ranma burst out laughing, "Go ahead and play the guilt card. Start crying for all I care. Crap like that don't bother me none,"  
Naruto let out an annoyed breath. Ranma was one hard nut to crack.  
"How about I teach you the Henge no Jutsu?" Naruto asked.  
"Henge no Jutsu?" Ranma asked, "What's that?"  
Naruto grinned.  
He performed a few quick hand motions and shout, "Henge no Jutsu!"  
Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke. After a moment, the smoke dissipated to reveal a beautiful naked girl that looked to be around eighteen to twenty, with all the curves to match. She had blond hair done up in pigtails and a very pretty face. Ranma's eyes widened in shock as Naruto, in his girl form, did a sexy pose. He had no idea why people older than him seemed to always be shocked at such a technique, but he knew that it was a good technique.  
"Whoa!" Ranma said, "Is that you, Naruto?"  
"Yeah," Naruto said, even his voice female.  
"Wow," Ranma said, "That's the Henge no Jutsu? Is it some kinda transformation technique?"  
Naruto nodded.  
A cloud of smoke suddenly formed around him, eventually disappearing to reveal Naruto in his normal form again. This made Ranma glad because he noticed the odd looks the few patrons were giving them. As much as he didn't care about what other people thought about him, he preferred that people not think he was some sick pervert. He had enough people thinking that back in his home world. "That's so cool!" Ranma said, "Holy crap, can you combine techniques? Can you do that and that cloning technique as well? That way, you turn into several naked girls?"  
Naruto smiled, "Yeah. I call that my Harem no Jutsu. I used it for shock value. I'm shocked at how well it works,"  
Ranma laughed, "That's an amazing technique,"  
"How about I teach you that?" Naruto asked, feeling like he finally had something to offer that would make Ranma want to teach him how to shoot ki-  
blasts. If Naruto offered to teach Ranma the transformation technique, maybe Ranma would feel obligated to teach him how to shook ki-blasts.  
Ranma said, "Nope. Not interested. Heh, thought y'got me there, huh? It sure looked like I wanted to learn that technique, huh? Man, I should be an actor because even I believed I was convinced that I wanted to learn that technique no matter what,"  
"Argh! C'mon!" Naruto said, "Can't I do anything to convince you to teach me?"  
"Nope," Ranma said.  
"Fine, then I'll just follow you around and just keep singing and bugging the heck outta you until you do," Naruto smirked.  
Ranma grinned, "Yeah, I'm sure that's really gonna work. I'll just hit your sleep pressure points and you'll be sleeping all day. By the time you wake up, I'll be long gone. You're only still awake now because I find you amusing. If you start annoying me, you'd just put you to sleep," Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma smirked, "I'm not so young and na ve that you can manipulate me into doing something I don't wanna do. I've got a lot of experience over the course of my life that I know how to deal with lots of stuff simply from dealing with 'em before,"  
Naruto, realizing that he was out of options, quickly hopped off his seat.  
"Anyway," Ranma said, "It's best that you give up your idea of my teaching you. Just wait until Jiraiya find you and asks you to go along with him when he goes looking for Tsunade. I'm sure he'll teach you a good technique,"  
Naruto got down on his hands and knees, bringing his head down so that his forehead was touching the floor, in a traditional begging position.  
"Please, please, Ranma, please teach me that technique," Naruto said.  
Ranma's lips became a thin line. For some odd reason, he believed that it took a lot for someone like Naruto to have to do something like that, to resort to begging. Afterall, he saw a bit of himself in Naruto, and for Ranma to have to resort to begging, something he believed he would never do, it sure meant something.  
"Get up," Ranma said, "There's no need for you to beg,"  
"Please, teach me," Naruto persisted, still on his hands and knees.  
Ranma gave Naruto a slight smile, "Fine. Just get up,"  
Naruto quickly got up to his feet, "Y-you really mean it? Y-you'll teach me?"  
"Well, since it seems like you're willing to go as far as to actually begging me, I guess you really believe that learning something like that is what you need," Ranma stated.  
"I really do," Naruto said.  
"All right," Ranma smirked, "I'll teach you. But I'll only stay here until tonight to teach you the premise behind throwing a ki-blast. It's up to you to master what I teach you,"  
Naruto smiled, "Fine. I have no problem with that,"  
At that moment, the door to the kitchen opened to reveal the young waitress as she carried with her a large bowl of ramen. She placed it on the table where Ranma sat.  
Naruto's and Ranma's eyes widened at how large a bowl it was. Ranma was surprised at how large the bowl was. Naruto had been surprised at what was served. The bowl that Ranma had been given was the most expensive order in that entire restaurant. He needed to save up money for a week in order to order that.  
"Thanks, Kari," Ranma smiled warmly.  
"Glad I could help, Ranma," she smiled in return, "I hope you enjoy it,"  
"I'm sure I will," he said as she disappeared back into the kitchen.  
"You know the waitress?" Naruto asked. He had been coming to that ramen shop, his favorite place to eat, for a while and only recently found out the name of the waitress, and that was only because he had overheard a conversation between her and someone else, "You must be coming here for a while, right?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. I just asked her what her name was when I came in. This is my first time here. I came in here to ask if they can give me a meal because I have no money,"  
"What?" Naruto said in surprise, "You mean to tell me that this meal free?"  
Ranma nodded.  
"How?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma smiled.  
"I just asked. You'll be surprised at how helpful people can be if you simply asked,"  
Ranma and Naruto exited the ramen shop. Once outside, Ranma looked up toward the sky and noticed that the sun was starting to set. It looked to be somewhere around five-thirty or perhaps six, perhaps later. It didn't really matter what time it was to Ranma actually.  
He wondered when he should head out, if he should just stay until tomorrow morning before heading out toward Hidden Mist village. He was pretty sure Naruto wouldn't mind Ranma staying.  
He turned his gaze toward Naruto. The young boy had his hands cupped much like the way someone would cup their hands to hold some water, focused on actually trying to put Ranma's words to good use and actually test out what he had been told.  
"Is there an open field around here?" Ranma asked. "There's one down the block," Naruto stopped what he was doing to jerk a thumb over his shoulder, "Why do you ask?"  
Ranma said, "Well, I figure it's better to practice there, where there aren't many people walking around wondering what the heck you're doing,"  
"That's a good idea," Naruto said.

Together, they both headed for the open field.  
"I'm curious, where did you learn this 'Mouko Takabisha' technique?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "I developed it on my own. Yeah, from scratch, absolute nothing,"  
"No one taught you?" Naruto asked, "So what you're saying is that you came up with this technique and it's unique only to you?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yep, I pioneered that technique. However, it's not exclusive to myself. There's another person that can use it but he doesn't use it that often because he uses a variation of it. It's a similar technique that relies on emotions like sadness instead of confidence. That one's called 'Shi Shi Hakodan',"  
"Can you show me that also?" Naruto asked, hopeful.  
Ranma shook his head, "I really don't hafta. Once you figure out how the Mouko Takabisha works, you should be able to figure out how the Shi Shi Hakodan works. They're both ki-based projectiles that revolved around emotions,"  
"Who uses this Shi Shi Hakodan you speak of?" the boy asked.  
"A friend-slash-rival of mine," Ranma said, "His name's Ryoga. I guess it's kinda like what you and Sasuke are, both friends and rivals,"  
Naruto didn't bother to disagree or agree. "How about that technique where you jam a finger in the ground and the ground underneath your opponent or whatever explodes upward?" Naruto asked, "I saw you do that against Gaara in the stadium. Whatever it was, it was really cool and it seems like it can catch an opponent off-guard very easily. What was it called? I think you shouted something like Bakusai Tenketsu Revised,"  
Ranma nodded, "It can catch your opponent off-guard pretty easily. And I'm very impressed. You said it correctly, the name of the technique,"  
"Did you learn that on your own like that Mouko Takabisha?" Naruto asked, happy to have impressed someone like Ranma. He liked being able to impress people and liked compliments.  
Ranma shook his head, "It's actually not my technique. It's actually Ryoga's. However, because he and I constantly fight, we actually know each other's technique. Afterall, what better way to counter a technique but to know it yourself?"  
"So there's a way of defeating that techniques?" Naruto asked, "How about the Mouko Takabisha? If you and this Ryoga guy are constantly fighting, wouldn't he know how to use it and defeat that technique as well?"  
Naruto didn't like the thought of that, having a technique that could be defeated. But then again, if he thought about it, all techniques could be defeated in some way or another. Ranma chuckled, "A ki-blast is both simple and nearly impossible to defeat,"  
"That doesn't make sense," Naruto asked.  
"You can deflect it," Ranma said, "You can swat it away. I do it all the time,"  
"That sounds really easy," Naruto said.  
"That's the easy part, understanding that you can swat it away," Ranma grinned, "The hard part is knowing how to swat it away. Because a ki-blast'll explode if it touches you, that means, in order to swat it away, you need to basically create a ki-based 'paddle' to deflect it. You can only fight ki with ki,"  
Naruto said, "I guess that's where it's considered nearly impossible, being able to actually deflect it,"  
Ranma nodded, "Yep. The problem is that there's no easy way for you to learn how to swat it away. The only way you can learn is through trial and error. What does that mean? It means that I shoot a ki-blast at you and you try and swat it away. If you mess up, you can either be killed or be seriously hurt in the process,"  
Naruto said nothing for a moment, "So how did you learn it?"  
"Because, Ryoga and I fight all the freaking time," Ranma said, "You have no idea how many times I've been hit with ki-blasts and constantly getting seriously hurt. Eventually, I got tired of getting blown up so I tried to figure out a way around it. Ryoga noticed this and started learning it as well. Eventually, we figured out how to deflect our own ki-blasts,"  
"If you two managed to learn it, then so can I," Naruto said confidently.  
Ranma said, "It's not that easy. You need to be a seriously tough person to be able to fathom the thought of trying to deflect it. Frankly, you're not tough enough to withstand a single blast without getting seriously hurt,"  
"How come you were able to walk away from such ki-blasts?" Naruto asked, "It looks like you don't have any scars or such from those fights,"  
"That I don't care to go into," Ranma said. He didn't want to explain how him being in a different body was a good attribute to the lack of scars and such.  
"Deflecting ki-blasts ain't all that easy," Ranma said, "It's not just swatting something away. It's seeing something flying toward you, figuring out in that fraction of a second before it hits you to know how powerful the blast is, and instantly creating a 'paddle' equal in power to deflect it,"  
Naruto said nothing. While the premise seemed very easy to do, the process of being able to do such a feat sounded extremely complicated.  
"I'm able to do what I can do simply through experience," Ranma said, "You can't really do what I can do until you gain experience. That's the thing that makes me a really good martial artist, because of my experience. Unfortunately, in order to gain experience, you need time, lots of time,"  
Naruto said, "So, because that's the case, something like a ki-blast is near impossible to defeat?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, if the person doesn't know how to swat a ki-blast away, he's basically screwed. And don't worry, I highly doubt anyone around here will be able to defect such a projectile,"  
Naruto smirked, "That's good to hear,"  
"Man, I don't even know why I'm talking about that anyway, deflecting ki-  
blasts," Ranma said, "What we should be talking about is how you go about doing ki-blasts. Deflecting it is something you're gonna hafta learn on your own, or better yet, something your opponent's gotta learn,"  
"I dunno, I was just curious," Naruto said.  
"Changing the subject, I noticed that it seems like you have problems channeling your ki," Ranma stated.  
"How can you tell?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "I was just watching you try to gather ki around in your cupped hands. You're doing it wrong. Actually, it's not wrong, it's just different and a bit wasteful,"  
"Huh?" the boy asked, "How so?"  
"You're not breathing correct," Ranma said, "Generating ki is all based upon how you breath,"  
"Really?" Naruto asked. If that was the case, then how come someone like Kakashi and Jiraiya noticed?  
Ranma said, "There's nothing completely wrong with what you're doing because you're generating ki from within. Ki being brought out from within is more a force of will than breathing. However, if you wanna gather ki not from within but from without, then breathing becomes an issue,"  
Could that be why Kakashi and Jiraiya never noticed that, because they're not aware of drawing in chakra from their outside surroundings, Naruto thought.  
This was something Naruto had trouble understanding, that chakra could be drawn inward from without. He had always believed chakra had to be drawn outward from within.  
"First off, let me explain you more about ki," Ranma said, making no effort to refer to 'chakra' when he spoke of 'ki' since they were essentially the same words for the same thing, "There are two kinds, ki from within and ki from without. If you rely on ki from within yourself, that's fine. The problem is that you run out of steam real quickly because it takes a lot longer for your to recover if you uses it in excess,"  
Naruto said, "That could explain why I usually get very tired after using so much chakra,"  
"Exactly," Ranma nodded, "Your body naturally draws in ki from everywhere but at a very slow pace. It draws in this ki and stores it within yourself. This is the ki you seem to access. That's only the first kind of ki. The second kind is all the ki surrounding you,"  
Ranma waved his hand around in the air as if he could see it.  
"You can see it?" Naruto asked, "You can see ki?"  
"Not unless I want to," Ranma said, "It's more like I can sense it. It's all around us. Ki is part of every living creature and plant and such. There's actually a whole lot more of that in excess around here than where I'm used to,"  
"Wow," Naruto said.  
The two of them made their way to the open lot. It was just an open area where a building used to be, demolished a long time ago to be used for a new building one day. The lot reminded Ranma of those lots he used to see all around Nerima back when he was young.  
"Now, the thing is is that if there's all this ki surrounding us, it's a damn shame to just let it be wasted," Ranma said, "That's why it's better to draw it in from without, because there's so much that it's basically limitless. That's probably why I never get tired using ki, because I'm always drawing it in from my surroundings rather than drawing it out from within myself,"  
Naruto scratched his chin, "Wow, that should make sense. I do find it rather odd how you didn't seem tired shooting those ki-blasts of yours,"  
"Yep," Ranma said, "Of course. Now that you understand that, it's clearly better to draw ki in from your surroundings. If you try and use ki from within your body, you'll use it all up real quickly because your body can only hold only so much. And it also doesn't make it any easier when your body naturally assimilates ki from its surroundings at and extremely slow rate,"  
"So, if I learn how to breath correctly, I can draw in all this ki from my surroundings?" Naruto asked, "That way, I can use chakra without much worry of tiring myself out?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yep,"  
"Is breathing correctly kinda like opening up your body to assimilate chakra faster than it naturally does?" Naruto asked. He wasn't too sure what the word assimilate was, but he believed it was a vocabulary word for 'take in'.  
"Yep," Ranma nodded.  
"Wow," Naruto said, "Can you show me that?"  
"It seems like I'm gonna hafta," Ranma said, "You can't generate ki from what ki you have within your body. You need to draw it in front your surroundings to generate it,"  
"Thanks," Naruto said, grateful.  
"And what's great is that if you get good enough to draw in ki, you can actually draw in ki from other people," Ranma grinned.  
"What?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "I can forcibly steal a person's ki if I wanted to. However, I can't do it just by standing around and such. I need to actually meditate and concentrate,"  
"What would that do?" Naruto asked.  
"Here, I'll show you," Ranma got down in the middle of the lot.  
He closed his eyes as he got into a meditative pose, sitting Indian-style, his hands by his lap in a cupped position, his breathing slow and steady.  
Naruto watched Ranma do this, meditate for around a minute.  
Before long, Naruto suddenly found himself having trouble standing as all the energy seemed to mysteriously disappear from him. His vision seemed to blur as the world seemed to spin around him.  
This only lasted for a second but it was definitely long enough for Naruto to notice that something was wrong with him. When he suddenly found himself better all of a sudden, he had this sudden sensation that what he had experienced was all in his head, like he had been daydreaming.  
"You feel that?" Ranma grinned.  
"T-that was you?" Naruto asked, shocked.  
"Yep," Ranma said, getting back to his feet, "I basically started sucking out all your ki and because of it, you should've felt disoriented. If I kept it up, you'd pass out after a minute,"  
"Wow!" Naruto asked. When he noticed Ranma's hands outstretched from his body, he asked, "Whatcha doing?"  
"Just releasing all the ki I drew in," Ranma said, "I sucked in so much damn ki over the span of that one minute that it isn't even funny,"  
"That's an incredible technique," Naruto said, "You can defeat opponents without fighting them, by sucking in their ki and sapping them of their energy. That's, like, the ultimate way of winning, but defeating your opponent without even needing to fight him,"  
Ranma smirked, "Heh, it's not quite that easy. It takes a while to do so that no opponent would stand around and let you do this. Keep in mind I'm completely wide open for a good minute while I do this,"  
"You have a point," Naruto said.  
Ranma smirked, "It is a funny party trick if y'get what I mean,"  
Naruto laughed, "I guess so,"  
"Anyway, back onto showing how ki works," Ranma said, "You see that meditative pose I got into? Get into that one. We should start you from square one and get you to understand how to draw in ki. There's no way you can even consider shooting a ki-blast unless you know how to draw in ki,"  
Naruto did as he was told, getting down Indian-style on the ground. Ranma couldn't help but smile. He found himself reminded of the times he was teaching Asuka and Shinji about how to breath correctly. Heck, if he thought about it some more, he could remember as far back as to when he showed the Knight Sabers how to breath correctly. "Close your eyes and clear your mind and think of something serene, like a waterfall or a river," Ranma said. "Okay," Naruto said, his eyes closed.  
"Take slow and steady breaths, breathing in through your nose and breathing out through your mouth," Ranma said.  
Naruto continued to do this. Ranma watched this.  
"Good," Ranma said, "Now just continue to do so. After around five minutes of constant meditating, you'll start feeling some heat forming around your cupped hands,"  
Naruto broke his concentration, "Five minutes? That's so long!"  
Ranma grinned, "Hey, we're starting at square one. Just be glad it doesn't take around a half hour like it usually does with regular people. Now, go back to meditating,"  
"Fine," Naruto sighed, getting back to meditating.  
"I'll be right back," Ranma said, "I just realized I forgot to say thank you to the waitress for giving me the free meal,"  
Ranma would be back in a few minutes. He needed to leave Naruto alone to gather ki. He needed Naruto to understand the feeling and the science behind gathering ki. He found it rather amazing the Naruto only needed a few minutes before he would start feeling changes in his body. Just a quick look at him made Ranma realize that Naruto would be able to pick up on gathering ki in no time.  
Walking back to the ramen shop, Ranma entered it.  
"Welcome back, Ranma," the waitress named Kari said, "Hungry again?"  
Ranma chuckled, "Actually, I just wanted to come back and say thank you. It was awfully inconsiderate of me to leave and not say thank you and goodbye," The waitress smiled.  
"Anyway, I'm really grateful for your help, Kari," he said.  
"It's no problem," she smiled.  
"Take care," he said.  
"I wish you a safe trip," she said, referring to his trip to Hidden Mist Village that he had mentioned earlier.  
"Thanks, bye," he said before leaving.  
On the way out, Ranma accidentally bumped into a large man that has a massive sword strapped around his back. The blade of the sword was longer than the man was tall, the blade wrapped with bandages as if to hide the blade. It made Ranma wonder what the heck was with this world and bandages. Was it some kind of fashion statement. The had short hair and looked rather menacing and had a very evil aura to him that Ranma noticed.  
"I'm sorry about that," Ranma said, bowing politely, "It's my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going,"  
"Watch where you're going, punk!" the man sneered, displaying sharp pointy teeth like that of a shark, grabbing Ranma by the collar.  
Ranma found himself getting angry and showed no signs of being intimidated, "Hey, I said I was sorry,"  
"Leave him be, Kisame," the man next to the man said in a soft but cold voice.  
Ranma turned his attention toward the young man standing next to the guy named Kisame. He was around Ranma's height and had these weird looking eyes red eyes. Little did Ranma know that he was staring in the eyes of someone possessing the Sharingan ability. The man looked calm and collected.  
Ranma found himself staring at the smaller man. The young man looked strikingly close to Sasuke in appearance, as if he was the older brother of him. Little did Ranma know that he was actually staring at a man named Itachi Uchiha, the older brother of Sasuke, the brother Sasuke hated and swore to kill one day.  
"You best not stare if you know what's good for you," the young man said coldly.  
"Sorry," Ranma said, "It's just that you looked familiar. What's your name? I'm Ranma,"  
He was curious as to if the man had the same family name as Sasuke. If he did, then that meant that this guy was indeed the brother of Sasuke. Of course, Ranma could just look deeply into the man's eyes himself and find out what he needed on his own but he respected people's privacy, even if the man was a complete stranger.  
"I don't need to tell you my name," the man said.  
"How about we just kill him?" the large man named Kisame said, "He bugs me,"  
"How about you not?" Ranma smiled, "And how about you let go of my collar if you know what's good for you?"  
Kisame smirked at Ranma, impressed by Ranma's audacity. It seemed like Ranma didn't know who the two of them were. His ignorance could very well mean his death.  
Ranma continued to smile, "Please, let go of me,"  
"Let him be," the young man said, "I'm not in the mood to seeing death today,"  
The young man entered the ramen shop, leaving Ranma and the large man named Kisame alone.  
"You're lucky," Kisame sneered, shoving Ranma off, shoving him hard enough that Ranma actually ended up falling down and onto his backside, "It seems like you're going to live today,"  
The man disappeared into the shop.  
Ranma got back up to his feet and dusted himself off. Sure, perhaps Ranma deserved if because he had hadn't been looking where he was going in the first place but there was no real need for Kisame to be so rough.  
"What an asshole,"

new stuff 12/26

"Ranma, there you are!" Ranma looked in the direction of the voice and found himself watching Naruto as the young boy came running down the street in his direction. Naruto had been meditating for a good forty minutes before he grew curious as to what had happened to Ranma. Ranma had said he would be back in a few minutes so when he noticed that Ranma didn't show up, Naruto got curious.  
Ranma had been standing outside the ramen shop, leaning against the wall right next to the entrance.  
"Oh yeah, I forgot about you," Ranma said, slapping his forehead, "Sorry about that,"  
Naruto accepted the apology rather easily, not all that annoyed because he was really happy with what he wanted to tell Ranma.  
"I think I understand how meditating works," Naruto said happily, "I felt this weird sensation in my hands after around five minutes. After around twenty minutes, I started feeling this odd sensation like I was getting stronger and stronger, as if I can take on the world with my bare hands. It felt like I was getting more powerful. After around forty minutes, I felt like I was gonna explore or something and kinda panicked and stopped,"  
Ranma smirked, "Heh, you just described one of the symptoms of gathering ki, the sensation of power. Man, it seems like you learn real quickly. It usually takes a normal person a few weeks to start feeling the effects of meditation like what I showed you and you picked it up in around forty minutes. Very very impressive," "Is that right?" Naruto asked, "It felt like I was gonna explode, like I was some kinda bomb,"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, that's right. It simply feels like you're gonna blow up like a bomb because you're not used to it. Over time, you'll get used to it and it won't bother you any more. Lots of people panic at the sensations because it feels very weird and dangerous,"  
"Wow, that's awesome," Naruto threw a hand up in the air, "At this rate, I'll be throwing ki-blasts in no time. If I'm learning at a rate much faster than a normal person, shooting ki-blasts should be right around the corner for me,"  
Ranma laughed, "That's what you think,"  
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked.  
"You're learning quickly, but don't get so full of yourself yet," Ranma smirked, "You're used to doing martial arts so it's understandable that you're learning at a rapid rate, much faster than normal. However, you're learning rapidly compared to a normal person. A normal person to me is a person that has no martial arts experience. Let's just say that if you didn't learn at this rate, considering you've been doing martial arts all your life, you should be ashamed,"  
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "So what do you mean, that I'm just average?"  
"For a kid that's done martial arts all his life?" Ranma shrugged, "Yeah, more or less,"  
"Man, what a way to pop my balloon," Naruto muttered, "And here I thought I was doing really well,"  
"You are, compared to non-martial artists," Ranma corrected, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. You're actually doing stuff that I didn't start doing until I was around sixteen,"  
"So what does that mean, that you only recently learn it?" Naruto asked, "You're really confusing me about how old you are. Aren't you around sixteen?"  
"If you quite judging me by my age, then you won't get all confused," Ranma said, "Dontcha know that you should never judge a book by its cover? I may look sixteen, but I'm not sixteen. Haven't you figured it out by the way I act that I'm not some typical sixteen year old?"  
Naruto said nothing, which made Ranma realize that Naruto didn't seem to notice it. This confused Ranma a bit on how Naruto seemed to be pretty observant and perceptive, what with the fact that he could recall the name of Ranma's Bakusai Tenketsu technique, but not able to figure out the fact that Ranma was a full-grown adult in a sixteen year old's body.  
"I'm not sixteen," Ranma said, "I my look like I'm young, but I'm anything but young. I'm a lot older than you. I'm more than twice the age of Jiraiya,"  
"What? But Jiraiya's an old man!" Naruto said, "He's, like, fifty. If that's the case, you must be over a hundred!"  
"Bingo," Ranma smirked, "Good deduction,"  
"How's that possible?" Naruto asked, "Are you using some kinda special Jutsu to make yourself look young?"  
Ranma said, "It's a long story. It's so long that I don't care to explain it. Just take it as a given than I'm an old guy in a young man's body,"  
"If you're, like, over a hundred, wouldn't that mean your mind should be slipping around now?" Naruto asked, "Shouldn't you be forgetting stuff? I know a lot of old people and they seem to forget stuff pretty easily when they get around eighty and up, sometimes even forgetting their own names and names of their relatives and such,"  
"Man, you sure lack a thing called tact, huh?" Ranma smirked, "It seems like you have no problem speaking whatever's on your mind, huh?"  
"Why shouldn't I?" Naruto asked, "I've always said whatever's on my mind,"  
Ranma chuckled, "You might wanna watch that for when you grow up. If you don't think about what you should say before you say it, it'll land you in a lot of hot water with members of the opposite sex,"  
"Like I care," Naruto didn't seem perturbed. "Anyway, back to the subject, you're learning pretty quickly," Ranma said, "I'm impressed. You should be proud of yourself that you've actually grasped the early beginnings behind shooting ki-blasts before I started figuring it out,"  
"How long did it take you to learn to shoot ki-blasts?" Naruto asked, curious as to if he could beat Ranma's own time for learning it.  
"About three days," Ranma said.  
"Ha! I'll learn it in three days as well," Naruto said confidently, "No, I'll learn it even quicker,"  
Ranma smiled warmly, "Why? What, do you have something y'wanna prove to yourself?"  
"Well, no," Naruto stated, "but if you learned how to do so in around three days, then I can use that as a gauge on how to do so,"  
Ranma said, "That sounds like a challenge you're giving yourself, to beat the time period it took you to learn how to shoot ki-blasts like I did,"  
"Yeah," Naruto said, "You think I can learn it in three days?"  
"Nope," Ranma said.  
"Why do you say that?" Naruto said, surprised.  
"Because, you may be a bright kid at learning stuff, but you're kinda overestimating yourself," Ranma said, "Also, comparing yourself to someone like me isn't even right in the first place,"  
Naruto was confused.  
"First off, I learned how to do ki-blasts in a round three days from scratch," Ranma stated, "That means I had no one showing me how to go about doing so. You already have a head-start because you have me explaining the science behind ki-  
blasts. If you saw me shooting ki-blasts at the monster, and I leave and come back three days later, and I see you suddenly shooting ki-blasts, then you can go around boasting how you learned how to shoot ki-blasts not only faster than I did, but at a younger age as well,"  
Naruto sighed, "Oh, I never thought of it like that. Okay, so how long do you think it would take me to figure it out all on my own, had you not told me how I should go about doing so,"  
"Most likely never," Ranma said.  
"What?" Naruto shouted, "You're telling me that you're that bright that you can pick something up in a few days where it would take someone like myself would never figure it out?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah,"  
"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked, "You hafta give me some sorta credit. Never is a long time. I would understand if you said several weeks, perhaps even a couple of months, but never?"  
Ranma said, "That's right. Never. That's because you can't shoot ki-blasts based on what you know. From what it seems, this world isn't aware about how someone can draw in ki from his or her surroundings. Because no one knows about that, and there's no one around to teach it to you, you're never going to learn about it and the eventual discovery that it could be used for shooting ki-  
blasts,"  
Naruto's lips became a thin line. Ranma made perfect sense. Even Jiraiya had never mentioned to Naruto how there was a special way to breath to bring in ki from one's surrounding. That must mean Jiraiya didn't know about that.  
"This world does have a lot of creative uses for ki I must say," Ranma said, "Like the way you transform and clone yourself and such. I've never thought of doing something like that. I guess I lack the imagination to think of using ki in such a fashion,"  
"Just how much more powerful is the way you use chakra compared to the way, well, we use chakra?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma thought for a moment, "Much more. Think about it, I don't get tired using ki. If I wanted to, I just stand around and continuously shoot ki-blasts at you until one eventually hits,"  
"What if I'm, like, super fast and can dodge 'em?" Naruto asked, "Wouldn't that make me some kind of contender with facing someone like you?"  
Ranma said, "I'll just shoot one so damn large that you can't doge. Those ki-  
blasts I shot at the monster is the weakest I can generate. I can take out this entire village and all its inhabitants with a single blast if I wanted to,"  
Naruto's jaw dropped. It sounded to unbelievable to accept. However, for some odd reason, he believed that Ranma was capable of doing something like that. He was powerful enough to take on that monster and that monster alone looked like it could wipe out the entire town.  
"Of course, for me to do so, I'd end up dying in the process since I'll get caught up in the blast," Ranma said, "Since I don't particularly care about dying, there's no need to worry about something like that,"  
"Um, that's good to hear," Naruto said, gulping, "I'm glad you're one of the good guys. I'd hate to think of how someone would be able to fight against you if you were a bad guy,"  
Ranma laughed, "A good guy? Me? That's kinda funny. I'm not necessarily a good guy. I'm definitely sure I'm not a bad guy, but I'm not a good guy either. I'm just a regular person. I do bad things as well as good things,"  
"Yeah, but you don't go around killing people because you have the power to do so," Naruto said.  
Ranma shrugged, "That's true,"  
"So that labels you a good guy," Naruto said, "Also, you mention that you would use your powers to protect others. That's definitely signs of a good guy,"  
"A friend of mine mentioned about what kinda person I am," Ranma recalled a conversation he had had with Nene not too long ago, "She described me as 'chaotic good',"  
Ranma smirked as the thought back to that conversation with Nene. They had been on a different world together, there to have an adventure. It was on that

world where they met Motoko and Bateau.  
"Hey, like I said, I ain't no saint," he commented to Nene.  
Nene giggled, "That definitely seems to be the case. In a sense, it's as if your alignment is chaotic good,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "Chaotic good? What's that?"  
Nene waved a dismissive hand, figuring Ranma wasn't interested in what she had to say. She liked reading fantasy books and she was pretty sure Ranma would never read something like that. Actually, she knew Ranma would not read such things. This was because Ranma rarely ever read.  
"Don't worry about it," Nene answered, "It's not important,"  
"C'mon, tell me," Ranma was interested, "'Chaotic Good', that sounds really cool,"  
Nene said, "Um, I like fantasy books and it's something used to describe a character's alignment,"  
"An alignment? You mean like good and evil?" Ranma asked.  
Nene nodded, "Yeah. However, in the fantasy world, there's also neutral. So basically, you can be either good, neutral, or evil. And among those categories, there are three subcategories for that, chaotic, neutral, or lawful,"  
Ranma gave an embarrassed smile, "Um, you already lost me,"  
"For instance, let's take you for example," Nene said, "You'd basically be considered chaotic good. Why? Because you do good deeds, like helping people out, even if you don't know them. Chaotic represents how you go about doing good deeds. In a sense, you would do the 'good' deed of giving poor people money, but you would go about getting the money through 'chaotic' means like robbing a bank,"  
Ranma said, "Hm, I guess I do do that, huh? If I'm chaotic good, then what would you be?"  
Nene smiled confidently, "What else, lawful good,"  
"Lawful good?" Ranma smirked, "Lettme guess, you do good stuff, which is good, and you go about it using lawful means,"  
"Right," Nene nodded, a bit surprised at how fast Ranma was picking this up.  
"What would neutral neutral be?" Ranma asked.  
"I don't know, probably someone like Priss," Nene said, "She does neither good nor evil stuff. And she is the type of person that would not do stuff like rob a bank, which would be considered chaotic, but she would neither do stuff like following rules and laws, which would be considered lawful,"  
"That's kinda interesting," Ranma said, "And you learned about this from reading fantasy books?"  
Nene nodded, "Um, yeah,"  
"Hm, maybe I should give reading those kinda books a try," Ranma said, scratching his chin, "It can help pass the time,"  
"R-really?" Nene's eyes widened, "You really mean it?"  
Ranma was a bit surprised at how much Nene brightened up, "Whoa,"  
"I'm sorry," Nene said, "It's just that I got a bit excited. I like fantasy books, and I got excited at the thought that you might start reading such books and might even grow to like that genre,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Who knows. I'll give it a try,"  
Man, now that I think about it, I have yet to give reading fantasy books Nene mentioned to me a try. Maybe I'll start after I get home, provided I can get home in the first place.  
"Whatcha thinking about?" Naruto's voice snapped Ranma out of his reverie.  
"Oh, nothing much," Ranma said.  
"What's this 'chaotic neutral' term you mentioned?" Naruto asked.  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "It's not all that important. It just mentions that I'm not all that much of a good guy. I believe in the saying 'The end justify the means' and generally live by it.  
Ranma gestured toward the lot, "Why dontcha go practice meditating some more? That way, you can get used to the feeling and won't get all panicky when you get that sensation again, that sensation where you're about to explode like some kind of bomb,"  
"How's that tie into shooting ki-blasts?" Naruto asked.  
"You feel like you're gonna explode because you have all that ki inside of you from taking in so much," Ranma answered him, "Shooting a ki-blast is simply releasing all that ki stored up within you in a tangible form from your hands,"  
"Wow, that's awesome," Naruto said, "Does that mean you're shooting off all the chakra you draw in within you every time you shoot it?"  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "All that ki you took it over the course of that, what, forty minutes, if you knew exactly how to send it out, it would probably be enough to blow out a candle from several feet away. That should give you a good idea of how much ki I can draw in within a short period of time,"  
Naruto said nothing, speechless at the analogy Ranma had made between their skill levels. Naruto had truly believed he was a very strong individual but that comparison was mind boggling.  
"What if I use the chakra within me?" Naruto asked, "I know you said that it's not good enough to shoot ki-blasts as if I'm drawing chakra from my surroundings but what kind of ki-blast would all the chakra within me do?"  
Ranma said, "It'll do considerable damage. You can probably destroy a large rock. The thing is is that you can only do it once. If you don't know how to draw in ki to replenish all that spent ki, you're outta luck if you miss because you'll basically fall unconscious. Think of it as some kinda end-all trump card of yours,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"That's why it's good learning how to draw in ki from your surroundings," Ranma said, "Heck, if I think about it, I would recommend focusing more on just mastering that. Screw shooting ki-blasts and such. As cool as shooting ki-blasts may seem, the novelty of it wears off before long. Once you learn how to draw in ki, you'll be able to use it for basically anything you can think of,"  
"Like my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" Naruto asked, "I'll be able to make replicas of myself constantly?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, and you won't hafta worry about getting tired doing so. If you think about it, learning something like unlimited ki usage is a helluva lot better than learning to shoot ki-blasts. Heck, shooting ki-blasts is just a derivative of some of the things you can do if you know how to absorb ki,"  
Naruto started jumping up and down, "Oh man, I so want to learn this! I'm so excited! I hope I become some kinda super chakra magnet and never get tired from using stuff like my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique over and over and over again,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Yeah. That, too. Go on back to the lot and just keep on practicing meditation. Just get yourself to how it feels drawing in ki. I'll show you how to hold it in after you break your concentration from meditating. Keep in mind that when you draw in ki, the ki is automatically released back into the surroundings if you don't quickly do something with it. It's kinda like the exact opposite of what you're used to,"  
"I don't' get it," Naruto scratched his head. "If you use up ki found within your body, your body subconsciously replenishes it and at a very slow rate," Ranma said, "If you absorb ki into your body, your body will subconsciously release all that ki at a rapid rate," "How come I saw you holding your hands out before?" Naruto asked, "You stated that you were releasing all that chakra you took in before. If your body releases it naturally, then why didja hafta do it? Were you just helping your body along?"  
"Yeah, I had a whole lotta ki within me," Ranma said, "It's quicker for me to release all my ki on my own than to let my body do it for much subconsciously. Anyway, just go back to the lot and meditate. After a while, I'll get you and talk you through want to do to manipulate all that gathered ki,"  
"Okay," Naruto said, "What are you going to do?"  
"Stay here," Ranma said, still leaning up against the ramen shop.  
"Speaking of which, why are you waiting here?" Naruto asked, forgetting to asked that before until now, "Are you waiting for someone?"  
Ranma shook his head, "Not really. I'm just making sure nothing bad happens,"  
"Huh?" Naruto asked, looking around, "What, you expect another attack on the village or something?"  
"No," Ranma said, "There are two dangerous people that entered the ramen shop not too long ago. I'm just hanging out out here so I can be close should they decide to start up trouble. Keep in mind that that Kari waitress did give me a free meal, expecting nothing in return. The least I could do is watch over this shop while I'm here and be ready to deal with trouble should those two people decide to start something. I'm hanging out out here because I don't want to go inside. For all we know, they might not start any trouble but my being in the restaurant could result in trouble starting in the first place,"  
"Who are they, these two dangers people you're talking about?" Naruto asked, walking up to the door, about to enter.  
"No," Ranma said, "Just go meditate. I'll be fine. Whoever these people are is moot. If they leave this shop alone, I'll leave them alone. You just interfering might lead to them causing trouble,"  
"But I want to help," Naruto said, "This is my favorite shop. I'll be damned if someone comes and does something back to the nice people who work here,"  
Ranma smiled warmly, "I'm glad to hear that. You're a good kid, Naruto. However, you don't need to help out. I'll be fine. Don't worry, I'm a big boy, I can't take care of myself," Naruto sighed, "Fine, I'll go back,"  
Ranma watched as Naruto walked off. He found it very amusing and noble how Naruto was extremely eager to go about meditating some more, only to dismiss it the moment he found out that the ramen shop might be in trouble. It made him realize that Naruto, as much as he loved the thought of becoming stronger, had his priorities straight and were willing to forego it to help people out.  
Around fifteen minutes elapsed as Ranma simply waited patiently.  
When he suddenly sensed those two individuals approaching the door from within the ramen shop, Ranma quickly jumped up and landed on the roof top. He observed from above as the two individuals emerged from the restaurant.  
"Where do you think we should start, Itachi?" the large man named Kisame asked.  
Ah, so your name is Itachi, Ranma thought. I was curious as to what your name is. Perhaps I'll go talk to Sasuke at the hospital and ask him if he had a brother by that name.  
The young man said nothing as he looked around, as if he sensed something was wrong.  
Ha, you're not gonna figure out I was around waiting for you, Ranma thought with a smirk. I could stand right behind you making faces at your back and you won't be able to sense me. You think I'm so stupid that I'd let you sense my ki? Get real. I wasn't born yesterday.  
"Something the matter?" the large man asked curiously.  
"I'm not too sure, but whatever it was, it's gone," the young man named Itachi said.  
"So, where should we start? Where do you think we can find him?" the large man asked.  
"We will check around the village square," the young man said.  
Ranma watched as the two individuals walked off down the street in the opposite direction of where Naruto had gone of. He hopped off the roof, scratching his head. He turned around and headed toward the lot where Naruto was. Since the shop was okay and those two individuals had only gone it to eat, there was no need for him to care about what they were up to anymore.  
Ranma couldn't help but think about what those two had been talking about.  
"Hm, I wonder who they're looking for?"  
"Does Sasuke have a brother?" Ranma asked, approaching Naruto as he was deep in concentration. The young boy had been sitting in the middle of the lot meditating just like Ranma had asked him to.  
Naruto, his focus broken, opened his eyes to look up toward Ranma, "Huh?"  
"Does Sasuke have a brother?" Ranma repeated himself.  
Naruto shook his head, "No. Sasuke's entire family is dead. He's kinda like me. He has no family. Why do you ask?"  
Oddly enough, Naruto never knew that Sasuke's brother was alive and well and that Ranma had accidentally bumped into him back at the ramen shop. He thought Sasuke's family was all dead.  
Ranma said, "Don't worry. It's not important,"  
"Hey, how do you think my meditating's coming along?" Naruto asked, "Did you sense something as you approached me? Did you sense this overwhelming flow of chakra entering my body?"  
"Quite the opposite," Ranma smirked as he sensed all the ki seem to instantly seep out of Naruto's body, "Your body releases all that it's absorbed almost instantly. You can spend days meditating and constantly absorbing ki and you can lose all of it basically instantly,"  
"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.  
"Nothing much," Ranma said, "It actually means you have pretty good potential for shooting some damn powerful ki-blasts, to be able to release so much ki in such a short span of time,"  
"Really?" Naruto said, taking that as a compliment.  
Ranma said, "Of course, it kinda sucks as well because you can instantly lose all that that ki you've been working so hard in taking in. It's kind of a double edge sword if you think about it. Unfortunately for you, it's worse for you than good,"  
Naruto looked disappointed, "Why? Why do you say that?"  
"Because, you don't know how to take in ki quickly yet," Ranma said, "Therefore, all the time you spend taking it in will be lost when your body releases it when you break focus. When you get much much better at drawing in ki, it'll be different, because that mean you'll be able to draw in ki at such a rapid rate that it doesn't matter if you lose it because it'll only take a few seconds to draw it in,"  
"Oh," Naruto said, "But I guess I'm a long way off from that, huh?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yep,"  
"How long will it take before I get the hang of it?" Naruto asked.  
"You mean not counting the time it would take you to get used to manipulating all that drawn in ki to the point of where it's useful?" Ranma asked, "A few weeks minimum,"  
Naruto said, "I guess I shouldn't be all that upset because this is some really hard stuff and it takes time to learn stuff like this,"  
"Hard stuff?" Ranma chuckled, "Whatcha talking about? Drawing in ki is probably one of the most basic techniques I can show you outside hand-to-hand combat,"  
"Really?" Naruto was shocked, "You mean there's much more to all of this?"  
"Yeah, you need a firm foundation, that being a good mastering of drawing in ki," Ranma said, "There's lots of stuff much more advanced than drawing in ki, like shooting ki-blasts, deflecting projectiles, creating protective auras, sensing ki. You can manipulate ki to do anything you want. Heck, if you get a good grasp of sensing ki, you don't even need to rely on your five senses anymore,"  
"My five senses? You mean hearing, touch, taste, smell, and sight?" Naruto asked.  
"Yep," Ranma said, "Get good enough at that and those senses are useless,"  
"What is it, like some kind of sixth sense?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma shrugged, "Dunno about that. I prefer to consider it the ultimate sense. Human senses are ranked based on importance. The least important is taste, then smell, then sight, then hearing, and then touch. The importance of a sense is how badly a person would function without such a sense,"  
"Wait, you think not having a sense like touch is the really bad?" Naruto asked, "I figure losing a sense like sight would be worst,"  
Ranma shook his head, "Sight isn't all that important. It's very easy for a person to function without sight. Hearing is pretty high up there because it's lonely to the individual, to not be able to hear people and things around him. Taste is only useful for eating which doesn't really matter since people can easily overcome a bad taste if they're really hungry and such. Losing the sense of smell isn't that bad because humans never had a good sense of smell to begin with. If we had the ability to smell like a dog, that's different, but alas, we don't,"  
"But why would losing the ability to feel touch be the worst?" Naruto asked, "Why is that sense the most important. I figure it'd be pretty cool not to feel because then you won't feel pain,"  
Ranma said, "Pain keeps you from allowing yourself to die easily. What if get a cut on your body and it becomes infected? Because you can't feel the cut and it being infected, you'll end up dying from something as simple as an infection. You won't know that you're dying until you're dead,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Anyway, as I was saying, sensing ki is what I consider the ultimate sense," Ranma said, "It's kinda like all those five senses combined into one. It's not necessarily heightened senses as you probably wanna thing, but it's something along those lines. It's more along the lines like 'a sense of knowing'. Much like how we use our five senses to basically understand our surroundings, the ability to sense ki is basically a superior version to all those five working as one,"  
"That's awesome," Naruto gasped, "I can't wait to learn that. I wanna learn to shoot ki-blasts and sensing things and deflecting projectiles and such,"  
Ranma snickered, "Good luck because I won't be here to teach you those. You're gonna hafta figure out how to do so on your own since I'll be long gone before you can even begin to start figuring out how to manipulate your newly learned ability of drawing in ki,"  
Naruto's face became sad. He forgot about that, that Ranma would be gone and had no intention of hanging around.  
"If you plan on leaving so soon, how will I ever be able to learn how to shoot ki-blasts like you?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "I told you, I'll only teach you the basis of how to do so. You knowing about how to do so and actually doing so are entirely different. It's kinda like riding a bike, I can explain the basis of how to ride a bike to you, but the only way you can really learn how to do so is on your own. And much like riding a bike, you'll know you're able to do it when you actually do it and I don't need to be around to see you do it,"  
"Damn, I want to be able to shoot ki-blasts, like, tonight," Naruto said in a huff, "That way, I'd be able to know if I'm doing it right,"  
Ranma laughed, "Sorry, but that's not gonna happen. First, you need to understand how to draw in ki quickly. And then, you need to understand how to manipulate that drawn-in ki into that of a projectile. Just learning to draw in ki's a very long process where you'll only improve with practice. The same goes for shooting ki-blasts,"  
Naruto sighed.  
"I guess I shouldn't be all that disappointed," Naruto said, "As much as I would love to learn something like that as soon as possible, I guess I should be glad that you're teaching me in the first place,"  
Ranma smirked, "That's pretty wise of you to realize that. I guess you're growing up as we speak. Most kids your age wouldn't realize stuff like that,"  
Naruto quickly got back into a meditative position again, "All right, since I don't have much time, I'll continue practicing,"  
"Okay, just continue doing so for around fifteen minutes," Ranma said, walking off to sit down against a nearby tree, "When the time is right, I'll talk you through into what to do to gather the ki around your hands. Just don't break your concentration as you listen to me explain the way on how to go about doing it. If you do it correctly, you'll feel like you've done something but won't be able to exactly see what you've done. Of course, it's not like you'll be able to shoot a ki-blast right off the bat. You'll only be able to feel the early beginnings of what will eventually develop into a ki-blast with enough time and practice,"  
"I'll try," Naruto said.  
Ranma smirked, realizing Naruto had just broke his concentration to speak.  
"Heh, now y'gotta start all over again,"  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto shouted as extended both hands forward toward a piece of paper Ranma held out in front of him a short distance away.  
As to where Ranma got the piece of paper, no one knows. The piece of paper swayed slightly back and forth in Ranma's hand, as if a gentle breeze had blown right by it. Naruto feel down to his hands and knees, spent.  
"I'm never gonna learn this," Naruto said, breathing heavily.  
He had been doing exactly what Ranma had been telling him, meditating until he felt like his body was starting to get hot, it usually taking close to around forty minutes, before he would stand up while still deep in concentrating and focusing all that energy within him toward his extended hands.  
Unfortunately, he saw no progress. It was the same thing over and over again, Naruto ending up feeling like he was wasting both his and Ranma's time.  
It was nearing ten at night and Naruto had been going about trying to learn how to do a ki-blast for around four hours.  
Ranma had not left for Hidden Mist Village, having decided to stay a bit longer to see to Naruto's training. He had been pretty curious about Naruto's development, what with the fact that seeing Naruto trying to learn reminded Ranma of himself when he was young, so he didn't see any harm in staying around for a bit longer. Naruto had also mentioned to Ranma that he was welcome to crash at his place for the night before setting off in the morning. Ranma had accepted the invitation.  
"Not bad," Ranma smiled, "You made the paper sway this time around,"  
"I-I did?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah,"  
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Are you sure it wasn't you making it sway or perhaps a gust of wind? As much as I wanna see progress, I don't want you to just humor me," Ranma shrugged, "Fine, I don't care if you believe me or not,"  
"Okay, let's say that it was my ki, why does it take this freaking long for me to do something like make paper sway?" Naruto asked, "I can't see whatever ki-  
blast there is that comes outta my hands let alone one that's strong enough to even break the paper,"  
Ranma said, "You are shooting ki from your hands. You just don't see it because there's so little. What you're shooting out is not enough for the blast to be seen by the human eye nor is it powerful enough to do anything more than sway the paper, let alone do any damage,"  
"Argh! So hard!" Naruto shouted, throwing his hands in the sky.  
"Hey, I never said it was gonna be easy," Ranma chuckled, "Heh, and the fun part is that it only gets harder from here. The main problem is that you've grown up all your life unaware of the ability to draw in ki. That's why it seems so hard, because this is completely different from what you're used to, drawing out ki from within,"  
Naruto asked, "Why don't I just shoot a ki-blast by drawing out my chakra from within since that's why I'm so good at?"  
"Because, you're going to tire yourself out if you do so," Ranma said.  
Naruto gestured toward himself. He was still breathing hard, "And how am I not tiring myself out this way?"  
"That's because you're expending so much ki that you're actually drawing out ki from within as well as the ki from without," Ranma stated, "Like I said, your body's releasing the ki it takes in almost instantly. You're taking too long committing yourself to releasing all your ki. By the time you actually start focusing your ki towards your hands, most of the ki has already been released naturally by your body,"  
"But that doesn't explain why I'm getting so tired doing so," Naruto said.  
Ranma said, "Because you're actually releasing some of your ki from within. In a sense, you're releasing both your ki from within and from without. Because of that, that's why you're getting tired. But you don't hafta worry about, because you're meditating, you're quickly replenishing your interior ki much faster than what you're used to,"  
"You mean I'm recovering the chakra within me at a much faster rate than, say, sleeping?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "Heck, if you get hurt and you're exhausted, meditation is actually better for recovering than just sleeping,"  
"That seems to make sense," Naruto said, "Even though I'm tiring myself out every time I try it and fail, I'm pretty surprised that I can keep going and doing it over and over again,"  
Ranma said, "I know. That's one of the benefits of drawing in ki from your surroundings, a generally unlimited supply a ki to replenish your spent ki which means you won't get tired,"  
"This is so incredible," Naruto said, looking down at his hands, "This is so different from what I've been taught all my life and chakra and such. It's like what you're teaching me gives me an edge over all my opponents and everyone I know,"  
Ranma laughed, "Not quite. You're only vaguely understand the basics of what I'm teaching you. At your current level of development, with recovering spent ki, that advantage is so miniscule it's negligible. You can forget the thought of using this in actual combat since it takes too long for you to draw in ki at the moment. You're a complete rookie in terms of that. Heck, you're below a rookie and are more along the lines of a newbie,"  
"Gee, thanks," Naruto muttered.  
Ranma smiled, "Don't worry. Just give it some time. Try again,"  
Naruto sighed, "Okay,"  
The young boy got down into meditative position again.  
Ranma smiled as he walked over toward the tree again to rest and stare up at the stars while Naruto went about with the long and tedious of drawing in ki once again.  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ranma shouted.  
Naruto, whom had been deep in concentration trying to gather ki like Ranma had told him to, lost his focus as he quickly opened his eyes and turned his attention in the direction of Ranma's voice. All the ki he had been gathering over the past half-hour, virtually disappeared instantly when he did so.  
While all the ki Naruto had gathered was actually insignificant, not even a fraction of the amount of ki he could draw out from within, it annoyed him that all that time and hard work was lost by a simply lapse in concentration.  
Naruto wondered what Ranma was doing, feeling the need to blame Ranma for the distraction that resulted in his lose of all the ki he took in.  
"What the heck are you doing?" Naruto asked.  
He noticed Ranma standing near the tree, a puff of smoke nearby.  
When the smoke disappeared, all Naruto saw was Ranma standing alone. "Hahahaha, you failed to clone yourself with the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto laughed, pointing.  
Ranma pointed at Naruto and laughed, "Hahahaha, guess what? You're shit outta luck with your training now because your laughing now gives me a good enough excuse not gonna help you out anymore!"  
"Wait!" Naruto quickly stopped laughing, instantly regretting he had said that, "I didn't mean to laugh at you!"  
It was at that moment that something Ranma had mentioned to him rung true. It seemed like he really did lack tact and he needed to think before he spoke. Ranma laughed, "I'm just messing with you,"  
Naruto felt a very relieved. He didn't know Ranma well enough to be able to tell if he was kidding or not. There was a whimsical quality to Ranma that made it impossible for Naruto to be able to get a firm grasp on how Ranma thought and what made him tick. "Um, were you trying to do the cloning technique?" Naruto asked. The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was a technique Naruto liked to use all the time to clone himself so that he, as a group, could attack his opponent from multiple fronts. It was also a good technique to use to fool opponents into wondering which one is real and which ones are the clones. Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I was bored and decided to try it out just for the heck of it. I saw you do it before when Gaara cocooned himself in that ball of sand so I figure it might be worth a try,"  
Naruto said, "Well, how are you going about trying to do it? I'll help you,"  
He felt obligated to teach Ranma how to do the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Afterall, Ranma had been spending a bit of time teaching him how to go about drawing in ki and using it toward shooting a ki-blast. The least Naruto could do is teach him something in return.  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, "Just go back to your meditating,"  
"But I know how to do it," Naruto said, "I can teach you,"  
"What's the fun in that?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto asked, "Huh? Whatcha mean?"  
Ranma said, "I think it's no fun having someone teach me how to go about doing something. I think it's really fun trying to figure things out on my own. I'd rather learn on my own,"  
"But you could be doing it all wrong," Naruto said, "You might be trying to create clones of yourself the wrong way,"  
Ranma smirked, "So? Even if I am doing it completely differently from the way you do it, that doesn't mean it's wrong. For all I know, I might end up developing some new technique on the spot that this world has never seen. Maybe I might discover an easier way or harder way of creating clones. Who knows?"  
"You're awfully confident about yourself," Naruto smirked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "And I have reason to be confident in my own abilities. I've done stuff and learned things that were considered impossible. From my point of view, doing something some young boy like yourself can do without trouble should be a walk in the park for me,"  
Naruto said, "But you've never known about this before. It takes people years to do it. Heck, I didn't learn how to do so until just recently and I've been attending ninja school for a while,"  
Ranma said, "So? The same applies for you learning how to draw in ki and shooting ki-blasts. It's the same for me for this technique. There's a difference between stupidity and ignorance. I'm not stupid so something like this will not be all that hard to figure out. With something like this, I'm currently only ignorant of this technique and the premise behind implementing it. It's just a matter of time before I'm no longer ignorant of it,"  
"You really think you can figure it out on your own?" Naruto asked, "There's some people that still can't do that technique and they've been ninjas for far longer than myself. It's a really high level technique," Ranma nodded, "I'm pretty sure I can figure it out on my own. From what I believe, it seems like it's based upon you channeling your ki and manipulating it into creating an exact replication of the ki currently channeling through my own body,"  
Naruto said nothing. That was actually the exact why one went about doing so. Ranma made a shooing motion toward Naruto.  
"Shoo. Go away. Go back to your meditating. I'll go about learning this Kage Bunshin no Jutsu cloning technique on my own,"  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto shouted, extended his hands forward toward the piece of paper Ranma was holding a short distance away and in front of Naruto.  
The paper simply swayed, much like the way it would sway had a gentle breeze brushed up against it.  
It was nearing midnight and Naruto seemed to be doing no better off now than when a few hours ago.  
"Argh!" Naruto shouted in frustration, "It's not working!"  
"It's working," Ranma said, "I can feel the ki you're projecting forward,"  
"This is so hard," Naruto said, "I'm wasting forty minutes of my life at a time, every time failing in the process. Ranma smirked, "No need to remind me yet again. You said this about half a dozen times, each and every time you try and fail,"  
Naruto sighed, "It takes so much time to gather ki like the way you describe it. It's so hard just meditating for around forty minutes just to gather enough ki to make the paper sway when I project it toward the paper, let alone actually do any damage to it,"  
"Actually, you're taking in ki a bit faster than before," Ranma said, "Since I started watching you, I noticed you improved by around a minute on the time it takes for you to basically reach your limit in terms of drawing in ki,"  
"Whoopee," Naruto muttered, "A whole minute. That means it takes thirty-nine minutes instead of forty. How can I shoot ki-blasts when it takes that long just to draw in enough to project enough of it forward to sway the paper when so much of it is escaping before I can actually shoot it forward,"  
Ranma smirked, "Practice. Like I said, all it does is take practice,"  
"I find it hard to concentrate when I'm hearing you shouting Kage Bunshin no Jutsu every few minutes," Naruto muttered.  
"Tough luck," Ranma smirked, "You go do your stuff, I'm gonna do my stuff. What, you think I'm gonna just wait around while you go about with your training?"  
"How long have you practiced doing this ki-blast stuff before you got the hang of it?" Naruto asked, wanting to change the subject.  
"I never got the hang of it," Ranma answered, "I'm still practicing it. I'm just further along the road than you are, but there's still room for improvement,"  
"How so?" Naruto asked.  
"I can still get tired," Ranma said, "I'm not up to the point where I can draw in more ki than I can release. I have a recovery time that's required between shooting ki blasts. Shooting ki blasts eats up all of my ki reserves and it usually takes time for it to build back up for me to shoot another one,"  
"How long is that?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "About a quarter of a second or so. That basically means I can't shoot more than four ki-blasts a second,"  
"Oh, gee, that's really unfortunate," Naruto said sarcastically, "Ranma-niisan here can't shoot more than four ki-blasts a second, an technique where only one is needed to get the job done,"  
Ranma wondered why Naruto started calling him 'Ranma-niisan' instead of just Ranma. The prefix 'niisan' was usually used to refer toward older brothers. Did that mean Naruto was somehow inadvertently seeing him as some kind of older brother?  
"It's a long process," Ranma said, "However, if you keep training, you'll get the hang of it. You're picking up on the basis of how one goes about eventually throwing ki-blasts. That's all that matters,"  
"Man, but doing all that just to sway a piece of paper? I can punch straight toward the piece of paper and the way I disturb the air from doing so can make the paper sway more than what I can do trying to project ki out from my hands at it!" Naruto stated, falling backwards and onto his back as if in defeat.  
Ranma said, "Well, you can always give up,"  
"What are you talking about?" Naruto said, "I'm not gonna give up. I'm frustrated like you wouldn't believe but I'm not gonna give up. Never,"  
"That's good to hear," Ranma smirked.  
"Just curious, how far along am I away from being able to do what you do?" Naruto asked, "Let's say I train religiously doing this. How long will it be before I reach where you are?"  
"Several years," Ranma said, "You have a long way to go,"  
"Ugh," Naruto sighed.  
"You have very little ki reserves," Ranma said, "That means the ki you try to project will be very little. Keep in mind there are two kinds of ki reserves, the one you always have within you, and the reserve you start filling up as you draw in ki from your surroundings,"  
That was news to Naruto's ears, "Really?"  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a moment, "That's generally how it is. However, from what I can tell, it seems you have another reserve of your inner ki, deep down within you that doesn't seem to be easily accessible to you, at least not on a whim,"  
Naruto said nothing. He knew what Ranma was talking about. Naruto possessed the chakra of the nine-  
tails demon sealed deep deep within him. When he had been fighting against Neji in the tournament, Neji had struck his Tenketsu points which made it impossible for him to use chakra. That was why he needed to dig deep deep down inside him to summon the chakra of the sealed nine-tails demon within him to continue using chakra despite having his Tenketsu points struck.  
"When you meditate, you're helping yourself out a lot," Ranma said, "You're slowly expanding the amount of ki you can hold within your body from doing so, and you're also increasing the speed of how your body can draw ki in. But, like I said, it's a long and tedious process,"  
Naruto said, "I know. I know. It just feels like I bit off much more than I can chew,"  
"That you did," Ranma laughed, "Keep in mind you're learning something entirely new from nothing. Sure, you're pretty good at dealing with ki, but you're only used to dealing it internally, not externally. In a sense, you're kinda starting from scratch, as if you know nothing about ki to begin with since internal and external ki aren't very similar,"  
"I know," Naruto said, "It's just that from what you've told me so far, it seems like relying on drawing in chakra is significantly more beneficial than relying on chakra from within,"  
Ranma said, "More or less. But don't outright dismissing internal ki in exchange for external ki. There are benefits to it that you can't get from external ki,"  
"Like what?" Naruto asked curiously, wondering why he had never asked that before.  
Ranma said, "Well, you can hold a lot more internal ki than you can hold external ki. The size of the reserve of internal ki your body can hold is significantly larger than compared to the reserve your body can hold of external ki. You can also unlock the Heavenly Gates of your body through the channeling of your internal ki,"  
"Did you say Heavenly Gates?" Naruto asked, eyes widening.  
"What, you know about that?" Ranma asked, a bit surprised, "Tell me what you know. Maybe we might be talking about something different that happen to share the same name,"  
"Yeah, I know something if it," Naruto said, "It's, like, this system of how chakra flows through your body. The human body is a wonderful creation that seems heavily restricted by the way chakra flows through it. If you know how to unlock these gates, you can unlock your body's potential. Am I right?"  
Ranma said, "Hm, that sounds about right,"  
"What do you know about them?" Naruto asked curiously. Ranma was a wealth of martial arts knowledge.  
He remembered this boy named Rock Lee unlocking those Heavenly Gates within himself and using his unrestricted body to fight against Gaara and nearly defeating him in the process.  
"It's actually mind boggling just how much potential there is to the human body," Ranma said, "The Heavenly Gates are what limits the body from reaching its full potential. If you unlock them, you can basically unlock your body's full potential,"  
"Where do these gates come from?" Naruto asked.  
"It was put there by God," Ranma smirked, "It was put there to limit humans and their ability to grow as a creature. Someone running around with all Heavenly Gates unlocked can, single-handedly, wreck an entire planet if there isn't someone around to stop him. It's put there to prevent that,"  
"Wait, how do you know this stuff?" Naruto asked.  
"I used to be God," Ranma grinned, "Being God has it's benefits, like knowing things that was never known. Of course, it sucks if you're no longer God and forget some of the stuff you learned when you were, but I guess it can't be helped,"  
"C'mon, quit kidding around," Naruto said, "I'm really interested in knowing more about these Heavenly Gates,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Okay, I read it in a book back home," It was a waste to time to explain the truth, afterall.  
"Oh," Naruto said, "What about you? Do you know how to unlock those Heavenly Gates?"  
Ranma smirked, "Maybe. And what if I do know?"  
"How do you do it?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma laughed, "Let me guess, you want to learn how to unlock 'em? Sorry, but I can't really help you there. It's more of a mental thing than anything else. It's something I learned a while ago and I don't think explaining it really helps. It's much like explaining how to ride a bike. You either figure it out on your own or you don't,"  
Naruto said nothing, disappointed.  
"Besides, you should quit getting all gung ho about learning all these techniques and such," Ranma said, his voice a bit stern, "I only agreed to show you how to go about shooting ki-blasts. I've already gone far and beyond what was expected of me by hanging around much longer than I had originally planned and showing you how to go about doing so and also teaching you breathing techniques for drawing in ki,"  
Naruto said, "I understand. It's just that there it seems like you know so much that I feel like a kid in a candy store. There's so much stuff you know and can teach me and I find myself wanting to learn everything you can possibly teach me,"  
"So?" Ranma shrugged, "What's that hafta do with me?"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Anyway, why dontcha go practice one more time?" Ranma asked Naruto, changing the subject, "It's getting pretty late and it's about time we call it a night,"  
"Fine," Naruto said, resuming his training.

"Alright!" Ranma cheered around twenty minutes later.  
The cheer was enough to distract Naruto from his concentration, causing him to lose his focus and lose all the ki he had gathered during that span of time.  
"What?" Naruto opened his eyes and looked in the general direction of Ranma.  
Naruto found himself looking at two identical Ranma.  
"See? Told ya I can figure it out on my own," one of the Ranma grinned, bringing and elbow up to rest it up against the other Ranma.  
Naruto seemed in a state of shock at what he was seeing. He found it incredible how Ranma could figure out how to use a technique like the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu all on his own in a matter of hours, with no help outside simply seeing that something like that was possible.  
What Ranma had done basically blew away Naruto's idea of Ranma's skill. He figured it would take Ranma at least a day before he could even create humanoid versions of himself, let alone an exact clone.  
Ranma and the clone looked at one another.  
"Man, we kick ass," they said, grinning.  
"Hey, I just thought of something," Ranma said. "That if we have sex with one another, it kinda brings a new meaning to 'Go fuck yourself'?" the clone guessed.  
Ranma said nothing, surprised at the response. After a moment, he snickered. Before long, both Ranma were laughing.  
"No, that isn't it," Ranma stated, "It's funny nonetheless. What I figure is that if you're a clone of me, we can spar against one another,"  
The clone's eyes widened, "Whoa, you're right! What better opponent to is there to fight besides your exact self?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. And because we're both the same, it'll be a really fun fight because, frankly, I can't think of a better opponent that knows how to fight against me besides myself,"  
"Let's give it a try!" Ranma said, grinning.  
Before the clone realized what had happened, Ranma took a step toward the clone, stomping his left foot hard on the ground, bringing a wicked right hook punch right into the clone's jaw.  
The punch ended up sending a stunned clone flying bodily across the open lot where he slammed against the nearby tree where he fell down to his hands and knees.  
Naruto's mouth was wide opened, speechless from shock.  
"Hey, what gives?" Ranma asked, "You didn't dodge? You were supposed to dodge that,"  
The clone rubbed at his jaw furious, "And just how the heck do you expect me to dodge a goddamn sucker punch like that? I may be good, but just how the hell do you expect me to dodge a punch like that?"  
Ranma scratched his chin, "You have a point, I doubt I would've been able to dodge that blow if it caught me by surprised like the way I caught you by surprised,"  
"Of course you won't!" the clone shouted back, "If you're me, and I couldn't dodge it, what the heck makes you think you'll do any better?"  
Ranma laughed, "I guess you have a point. All right, fine, if you want, punch me so we can call it even?"  
"Forget it," the clone continued to rub at his jaw, "We can just consider that a hard lesson, at my expense, to teach you to be more guarded so something like that won't happen ever again,"  
Ranma smiled, "Cool. It seems like this match's already benefiting us,"  
The clone shook the cobwebs from his head, "Match, this ain't a match,"  
"Why not?" Ranma asked, "Aren't you curious as to how our match would turn out if we sparred one another? We'd be fighting completely equal opponents,"  
The clone said, "Dude, I'm not stupid. I already know I'm gonna lose the match. I'm still disoriented from that damn punch. You have the advantage because of that,"  
"And like I said, feel free to punch me," Ranma pointed toward his own jaw, "That way, we'll be even. We can start our match then,"  
The clone crossed his arm in front of his chest, "Man, it seems like we don't think all that much, do we? I guess you haven't noticed exactly where we are and the fact that we are in the middle of a open lot in the middle of a village?"  
"Oh," Ranma said, "You're right, fighting would be bad. It'll cause too much damage,"  
"No crap," the clone said, "We can spar against one another another time, in a place where we don't hafta worry about causing collateral damage, and hafta I recover from that damn punch you gave me,"  
"Ah, quit your bitching," Ranma smirked, "I didn't hit you that hard. It's not like Ryoga hit your or nothing,"  
"Hmph," the clone let out an annoyed breath, spitting out some blood.  
Ranma laughed, "Hahahaha, you're bleeding,"  
"No crap," the clone said, exasperated, "You made me bite my lip,"  
Ranma smirked.  
"You know what?" the clone smirked, obviously annoyed, "I think I'm up for evening things up. I think you should let me punch you,"  
"Hell no," Ranma said, "You think I'm stupid, you're pissed right now and I know you're not gonna hold back and hit me as hard as I hit you. You're gonna hit me much much harder,"  
"And what makes you think that?" the clone asked.  
"Because, I'd do the exact same thing," Ranma retorted.  
"Oh," the clone said, "I guess you have a point. It's not like I can really hide anything from you since we're essentially the same person,"  
The clone sighed, "We can spar against one another tomorrow,"  
"All right," Ranma said, "I guess you should go,"  
"Okay," the clone said.  
The two of them found themselves staring at one another. An awkward silence could be felt between the two of them.  
"Um, exactly how do I get rid of you?" Ranma asked.  
"I was just about to ask the same thing," the clone said, "How the hell do I disappear?"  
Ranma and the clone looked at Naruto. The young boy still had this shocked look on his face. "How do I get rid of my clone?" Ranma asked.  
A good minute passed before Naruto answered, "Um, I dunno. When I do the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique, they seem to know how to disappear when they need to,"  
The clone said, "Well, whatever it may be that will allow me to disappear, I have no idea what that is,"  
Ranma scratched his chin, deep in thought.  
"Is there a time limit to the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" the clone asked Naruto.  
Naruto said, "Not that I know about. I've never had clones that ever stayed around long enough that I was able to find out if there is a time limit or not,"  
Ranma said to the clone, "Hey, punch me,"  
"Huh?" the clone asked, "You want me to punch you?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Because I'm the real person, maybe hitting me will disrupt the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique and allow you to disappear,"  
"Okay," the clone smirked.  
Before Ranma was able to ready himself to get punched, the clone took a step toward Ranma, stomping his left foot hard on the ground, bringing a wicked right hook punch right into the clone's jaw in the exact same fashion as when Ranma had struck him.  
The punch ended up sending Ranma flying bodily across the open lot where he came to a sliding halt on the other side of the lot.  
"Ow!" Ranma said, rubbing at his jaw furiously, "That freaking hurt! Why didn'tja let me brace myself to getting punched?"  
"Damn, I didn't disappear," the clone looked down at himself, "It seems like hitting the real one doesn't do jack. Of course that punch hurt, I hit you just as hard as you hit me. Now we're even,"  
Ranma said, getting back up to his feet, "Fine, whatever,"  
"He didn't disappear," Naruto said, more to himself than anyone else.  
"No crap," Ranma said, "That's the thing we're trying to figure out right now,"  
Ranma and the clone both stood where they were as they scratched at their chins, deep in thought, mirror images of one another.  
After a moment, Ranma came up with an idea.  
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" Ranma asked.  
"I think so, but even if you do clone enough of us for each girl back home, I think Misato will try and keep all of us to herself," the clone replied, smirking, "She's crazy like that,"  
Ranma and the clone looked at one another for a moment before they burst out laughing. After a minute of laughing, Ranma cleared his throat.  
"Actually, I think I know of a way you can disappear," Ranma said.  
The clone smirked, "I know. I'm way ahead of you,"  
Naruto and Ranma watched as the clone extended his hands outward from his body, his hands open and facing skyward. He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.  
The clone started to become transparent. After a few seconds, the clone disappeared.  
"Wow, he disappeared," Naruto said, "What did your clone do? It looked like what you did when you did that after that technique where you seemed to steal some of my chakra before and made me become weak,"  
"He did the same thing I was thinking, to release all his ki," Ranma said, "Whatcha saw then was my releasing ki after having taken in so much in and even stealing some of yours in the process. My clone doing that kinda makes sense. If my clone is ki-based, him releasing his ki should allow him to disappear, which it did,"  
Naruto said in a stunned voice, "Man, I can't believe what I saw,"  
Ranma smirked, "See? Told ya I can figure it out on my own,"  
"Not just that," Naruto said, "There's so much more to it than just that,"  
"What then?" Ranma asked. He figured Naruto would be impressed that it only took him a few hours to figure out that Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique and how it worked and execute it.  
Naruto said, "Not only did you figure out how to do the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu on your own, but you somehow created a clone that doesn't disappear when he gets hit really hard or when you get hit hard,"  
"What about that?" Ranma asked. "Clones disappear after getting hit usually once," Naruto stated, "Clones are supposed to have poor resilience to taking damage. But you, you somehow created one that's as tough as you are,"  
Ranma smirked, "Wow, I never knew that about clones. I guess I accidentally stumbled upon a different version of your Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,"  
"Yeah, you did," Naruto said, believing he had just seen history in the making, "You just improved upon a high level technique. Even though you were only able to create one clone, you created one clone that's just as tough as you and is probably just as powerful as you. I can create multiple clones, even in the hundreds, but they can only take a single hit before they disappear. If your clone doesn't disappear after getting hit, you might as well consider your clone a summon,"  
Ranma said, "Hm, kinda reminds me of when I used to summon Angels,"  
"What?" Naruto asked, "Angels?"  
"Nevermind," Ranma said, "Anyway, if that's the case in terms of using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique, I guess my technique focuses more on quality while yours focuses more on quantity,"  
"Exactly," Naruto said, "And who knows, you might be able to create multiple clones like that. This is your first time so maybe you haven't practice enough to figure it out how to create more than one,"  
Ranma shrugged, "I guess,"  
"Oh man, you just created some kind of new technique," Naruto said, "It's like you created a high-quality version of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,"  
Ranma said, "Ooh, if that's the case, we should give the technique a new name. And I think I know what we should call it?"  
"What?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma smiled.  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu Revised,"

Ranma and Naruto entered Naruto's apartment.  
It was around one in the morning and Naruto looked very tired. Ranma was surprised that he didn't need to carry Naruto home. Afterall, Naruto was a young boy and he was up way past what would be his natural bedtime.  
Naruto had convinced Ranma that he could crash at his place for the night and Ranma never declined.  
Ranma looked around as he entered and noticed Naruto's place was nothing more than a single one-bedroom apartment. There was door to the bathroom to the left of the entrance and a door to the kitchen on the right. The kitchen looked like it had never been used. Straight ahead was an open area which seemed to be the bedroom and living room area, possessing a bed, a couch, and a coffee table.  
"Reminds me of Rei's place," Ranma said to himself. He remembered seeing Rei's apartment for the very first time a long long time ago when he ended up in her world and being surprised at how bleak-looking the apartment was. It lacked d cor and character. Then again, Naruto seemed like the type that never hung around the house so it didn't really matter.  
"Rei's place?" Naruto asked, yawning.  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said. He glanced in the direction of the coffee table where there were several empty cups of instant ramen. It made Ranma realize that Naruto didn't seem to eat all that well. Naruto gestured toward his bed, grabbing a pillow for himself, "Here, you can take my bed,"  
"What?" Ranma asked, "Where are you gonna sleep?"  
"I'll sleep on the couch," Naruto said, walking over to the couch and dropping the pillow down on it, "I don't have much I can offer you but my bed is the only thing I can offer. I'm smaller than you so sleeping on the couch won't be all that uncomfortable. Considering all the trouble you've gone through teaching me, it's the very least I could do,"  
Ranma smirked, "Gee, you giving me your bed to sleep on while you sleep on the couch I suppose that just makes us even,"  
"I didn't mean it like that," Naruto said.  
"I'm just messing with ya, kid," Ranma said, "I'm flattered with the offer, but there's no need. I'll take the couch,"  
Naruto quickly climbed into bed, "All right,"  
Ranma laughed. He gazed down the young boy and notice Naruto had fallen fast asleep. Ranma smiled warmly, adjusting the blankets so that it covered the young boy.  
"Take care, Naruto," Ranma said, "It's been fun hanging with you, but here's where we finally depart,"  
With that said, Ranma turned around and left the apartment.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu Revised!"  
A cloud of smoke formed around Ranma and disappeared, leaving behind two identical-looking Ranma.  
The clone and Ranma found themselves looking at one another. It was late at night out and Ranma was near the outskirts of the village. It had only taken him a brisk ten minute walk eastward to reach where he was from Naruto's place. At the moment, Ranma was just outside the village, having exited via the large opening in the outer wall surrounding the village that had been created by the monsters that attacked.  
"We meet again," the clone smirked, "What's the reason for this encounter?"  
"No real reason," Ranma shrugged, "I'm only my way to Hidden Mist Village and I figure it'd be fun to call you out to keep me company for the trip," The clone smirked, "That's unlike you or me to do that. We're used to being alone so it's kinda weird why you would suddenly want company on a journey,"  
Ranma laughed, "I guess I should cut to the chase, huh? Since I don't like beating around the bush and you don't like beating around the bush, we should just get to the point,"  
"Yep," the clone said.  
"I just wanted to ask you some questions," Ranma said.  
The clone laughed, "What, you're gonna me questions seeing if I know it or not? That's kinda stupid since I know exactly what you know,"  
"Not that," Ranma said, "I mean about yourself,"  
"Well," the clone said, "I used to be cursed where I get would turn into a girl when splashed with cold water and would turn back to my regular form when splashed with warm water. I betcha you didn't know that about me, huh?"  
Ranma let out an annoyed breath, "Geez, I didn't realize I'm that much of a wiseass,"  
The clone shrugged, "Hey, you ain't no bag of chips either. Keep in mind I'm basically noticing the same thing from my own point of view. Anyway, what's the meaning of this?"  
"Well, I'm curious as to what you feel," Ranma asked, "For instance, right now, I feel hungry. Do you feel hungry?"  
The clone nodded, "Yeah. I feel hungry, too,"  
"I called you out because I'm curious to see if you and I differ in any way," Ranma said, "I've been thinking about something that Naruto mentioned to me. It has to deal with my using being able to do this cloning technique,"  
The clone smirked, "I know. You're curious as how I feel knowing that I'm some clone you conjured,"  
Ranma said nothing.  
The clone smiled, "Don't worry. It bothers me not one bit knowing that I'm your clone, just like how it will bother you not one bit if you were in my shoes,"  
Ranma said, "I guess you have a point. It has crossed my mind, how I would feel if I was in your predicament,"  
"I know," the clone said, "You look at me and you wonder yourself if you're the clone and that I conjured you,"  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "I kinda feel weird, like I'm the lucky one and you're getting the shaft,"  
The clone said, "What the hell are you sad about? In case you haven't noticed, we are clones to begin with. What, you think we're the original Ranma? Well, we're not. We're several times removed from the real Ranma. We're a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone and so on,"  
"I know," Ranma answered.  
"Does it bother you that you're not original?" the clone asked, "Oh, wait, I forgot, you already know,"  
Ranma laughed, "Yeah, this is one weird conversation. I'm not used to this,"  
"Same here," the clone said.  
"There's a thing I'm curious about," Ranma said.  
"I don't know myself," the clone answered the question before Ranma asked, "I'm pretty sure I'm not the exact same version of yourself that you created back there in the open lot. I think I'm in a completely different physical body but I have updated memories. Now, while I'm not the same person that was actually punched by you, I possess the memories of that incident so, to me, I'm that same person,"  
Ranma smiled, "Man, that's cool. Also, we should figure out the extent of your powers,"  
"I was thinking that too," the clone said, "Even though we seem to be exactly alike in terms of skill and the way we think, that doesn't mean we're exactly alike," "Yeah," Ranma said, "You're some kinda ki-based version of myself. There is a chance that you're even more powerful than me. Unlike me, you don't hafta worry about dying which means you can completely abandon your sense of self-  
preservation. You can run into a situation with complete reckless abandon,  
The clone said, "Hey, since when has self-preservation been a part of our personality?"  
"True," Ranma said, "Say, do you think you can shoot ki-blasts and such? That's what I'm curious about. Does shooting ki-blasts take away from your life since you're made of ki and using ki basically depletes you of what makes your essence up?"  
"Only one way to find out," the clone smirked.  
Ranma watched as the clone reached up toward the sky and shot up a ki-blast.  
His gazed followed the ki-blast as it sailed up into the sky where it disappeared beyond the clouds. It didn't worry Ranma that much that the clone had done something like that because it was so late at night and many people were asleep. Besides, they had no intention of hanging around and people finding out that it was them that had done that.  
Looking down toward his clone, he looked perfectly fine.  
"Hm, I feel fine," the clone said.  
"It doesn't make you weaker or something?" Ranma asked, "That's a pretty large ki-blast and I figure it would be enough to at least make you feel something for a bit,"  
"No," the clone said, "I feel fine. It feels no different than when you do it. You feel your ki leaving you for a brief moment but it's almost instantly replenished before you barely notice it,"  
Ranma gasped, "Wow, that's amazing. Think about it, you're a ki-based version of myself that can shoot ki-blasts and can draw in ki to replenish the ki you just shot out,"  
The clone smirked, "Yeah, I rock,"  
Ranma laughed.  
"Hey, shoot me with a ki-blast," the clone said, excited, "Let's see what happens there,"  
Ranma said, "Are you nuts?"  
"No more nuts than you are," the clone retorted with a grin.  
"I'll end up killing you," Ranma said, "I know I can't walk away from getting hit with my own ki-blasts and I know you know that as well,"  
The clone nodded, "Yeah, you're right, but unlike you, if I'm ki-based, I might be different. Maybe a ki-based attack won't hurt me,"  
Ranma seemed skeptic, "I dunno about that,"  
"Dude, what do you care?" the clone said, "Just do it,"  
Ranma shrugged, "All right. I'll shoot you. But, remember, if you get really hurt, remember that you can allow yourself to disappear by releasing all your ki like you did before,"  
"Gee, thanks," the clone smirked, "That's never occurred to me,"  
"Goddamn, I'm such a wise-ass," Ranma said.  
The clone and Ranma laughed.  
"All right, I'm gonna run off and see what happens," the clone said, "Hit me with all that you've got,"  
"All right," Ranma said.  
He watched as his clone ran forward across the open field that surrounded the village just outside the outer wall, stopping short of the forestation beyond the field.  
"Ready?" Ranma called out.  
"Unlike last time when you punched me from out of nowhere, yes, I'm ready for this one," the clone called back.  
Ranma extended a hand and shot a ki-blast toward his clone. It rocketed toward him at an intense speed. However, just as it was expected to hit him, the clone deflected the ki-blast, sending it spiraling up into the sky where it disappeared beyond the heavens.  
"Whatcha go an do that?" Ranma called out, "I thought you were gonna let it hit you?"  
"Sorry, it was a reflex," the clone replied, "I didn't mean to do that,"  
"Hm, I guess that's understandable," Ranma said, "That's most likely what I would've done as well. Wanna try it again?"  
"Yeah," the clone replied, "Try it again. I'll force myself not to move," "Okay," Ranma said, "Ready?"  
"Yeah," the clone said, "At least as ready as I'll ever be,"  
Ranma extended a hand toward his clone and shot out a ki-blast. The projectile rocketed toward his clone where it struck him right in the chest, exploding on impact.  
All Ranma managed to hear was a yelp come from the explosion.  
"Oh man, he's gone," Ranma said, very sympathetic.  
He quickly ran forward toward where his clone was, expecting to see no remnants of him.  
To his surprise, he found himself running up to a large crater, created by the explosion as it engulfed everything within its sphere of influence. Looking into the crater, he found himself staring down at his clone. His clone looked very surprised.  
"Are you okay?" Ranma asked, "I'm shocked that you're still around. I figured you would've been a goner,"  
"Yeah, I'm okay," the clone said, proceeding to climb out of the crater, "Holy crap! You won't believe what I saw!"  
"What?" Ranma asked, very curious.  
"I saw the color of the layers of your ki-blast," his clone said, "The outer layer is yellow, below that is red, and below that, in the center of your ki-  
blast, it's blue,"  
"Whoa," Ranma said, shocked at what he was hearing.  
"I know," the clone said, "It's incredible. And look at me, I'm fine,"  
"You're not hurt at all?" Ranma asked.  
"Not at all," the clone said, "It didn't hurt,"  
"Wait," Ranma said, "You mean to tell me that you took a ki-blast right to the chest and it didn't hurt at all? Did you feel anything?"  
The clone shook his head, "I felt nothing when the ki-blast hit me. The only thing I did feel was the ground disappear from below me as it seemed to get incinerated by the ki-blast itself. You might've heard me yelp in surprise. That was went I got surprised when I found out the ground was incinerated from right under my feet,"  
"Wow, that's incredible," Ranma said, "Do you know what that means? You can do the exact same things as I can except you can't get hurt by ki-blast and such while I can.  
The clone smirked, "Yeah. It seems like I'm more powerful than you are," Ranma nodded, "Seems so,"  
The two of them laughed.  
"Well, look what we have here," came a voice, "It seems like you know Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,"  
Ranma and the clone turned around and toward the voice.  
They found themselves regarding the young man named Itachi and the large man named Kisame. Having seen large ki-blasts shooting up into the sky from wherever they were at the time, the two of them had arrived where they believed the source was to investigate, curious as to what it was.  
They were surprised to find Ranma, the boy they encountered earlier in the day in front of the ramen shop. Ranma smirked at the two new arrivals as they approached him and the clone.  
Because it was late at night and he was in an open field where no one could get hurt if he got in a fight, Ranma felt more inclined to show his animosity toward the large man.  
Ranma bent down and picked up a rock.  
Without warning, he threw the rock at the large man with the sword. The rock hit the man right it the forehead before he had a chance to fully react, knocking him out. The large man fell backwards where he landed on his back with a loud thud.  
Ranma smiled toward the rather young man, hoping to explain away his actions.  
"Sorry, I couldn't help it. He was an asshole,"

new stuff 12/27

The young man regarded Ranma.  
"You surprise me with your skill," the man commented, "Kisame is can be a very formidable opponent if he wants to be. Even I'm a bit surprised at how easily you dispatched him,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Look, I dunno who you are. I have no qualms with you. If you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. Your friend deserved it,"  
The young man chuckled slightly.  
"I'm Uchiha Itachi," the young man introduced himself.  
Ranma said, "I'm Ranma Saotome, in case you didn't hear me the first time around when introduced myself and you believed yourself above me and my not worthy to know your name,"  
"I guess I deserve that," Itachi laughed slightly, "You amuse me, Ranma. It seems like I have grossly underestimated you. I apologize,"  
"No hard feelings," Ranma said. He jerked a thumb toward his clone, "This is my clone, in case you haven't noticed,"  
"I've noticed," the young man said.  
"Your last name's Uchiha," Ranma stated, "Are you related to a boy named Sasuke? You look a lot like his older brother,"  
"So, you know my little brother, Sasuke," Itachi smirked, "Is he a friend of yours?"  
Ranma shrugged, "Friend? I guess but I hardly know the kid. I was merely curious. That's all,"  
The clone interrupted, "I think I best be going,"  
"You sure?" Ranma asked.  
"What do you expect me to do, stand around with a thumb up my ass while you and Itachi talk? No thank you," the clone replied.  
Ranma said, "Okay. It was nice talking to you,"  
The clone closed his eyes, ready to disappear in the same fashion like when he disappeared in that empty lot. However, before he disappeared, he came up with an idea.  
"Hey," the clone asked.  
Ranma turned his gaze from Itachi and back onto his clone, "Hm?"  
"I'd like to try one more thing out," the clone said.  
"What is it?" Ranma smirked.  
"Try and absorb me," the clone asked.  
"Huh?" Ranma asked. That had never crossed his mind, to do something like that.  
"When I disappear, see if you can take in my ki," the clone said, "Who knows, maybe you can take in what I know. For all we know, doing so might let you see what I saw, the interior of a ki-blast. It couldn't hurt,"  
Ranma said, "You have a point. It couldn't hurt. Okay, I'll try it,"  
The clone allowed himself to disappear, releasing all his ki from his outstretched hands. As he did so, Ranma allowed himself to draw in the very ki his clone was releasing.  
"Holy shit!" Ranma said, eyes widening as a memory of what his clone saw when he was struck in the chest by a ki-blast entered his mind, crystal clear. The memory became ingrained into his subconscious in a way so that it felt to Ranma like he had actually experienced it as well and saw exactly what his clone had seen.  
His clone was a genius to have suggested doing that. It actually worked, and because of it, basically made the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu Revised technique even more useful.  
Itachi looked at Ranma curiously. He had observed all of this through those Sharingan eyes of his, an ability that his bloodline inherited that allowed him to see all forms of special techniques and thus be able to understand it and even emulate it, but he had no idea what it meant.  
Whatever Ranma had done, it was something Itachi had never seen before.  
"What was that?" Itachi asked curiously.  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, feeling it was none of the young man's business to know anything, "It's not important,"  
The young man had a dangerous aura to him and Ranma didn't particularly care about associating with such people. However, not one to judge a book by its cover, Ranma was willing to give the young man the benefit of the doubt by not showing open hostility toward him.  
"So, what brings you two around here?" Ranma asked.  
He was pretty sure it was those ki-blasts that had attracted their attention but wanted to be sure, just in case. The first ki-blast had come from when his clone shot a ki-blast into the air to see what would happen to him when he did. The second came from when his clone deflected that ki-blast by accident.  
"We noticed two spheres of energy flying up into the sky and had come to investigate," Itachi answered, "Was that your doing?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah,"  
A moan could be heard coming from the large man Ranma had knocked out.  
"Seems like your friend is waking up," Ranma smirked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. He couldn't help but be surprised that the man was gaining consciousness only after being knocked out for around a minute. He must be a really tough guy to be able to recover that quickly.  
The two of them watched as Kisame got up, shaking the cobwebs from his head. He rubbed at his forehead where he had been struck by the rock. There was a large lump there and it felt tender to the touch.  
Looking around, Kisame took a moment to gather in his surroundings and realize where he was. When he saw Ranma and recognized him, he quickly got up to his feet.  
"You!" Kisame sneered, reaching behind his back and pulling out that massive sword of his, the blade pointing toward Ranma, "How dare you!"  
"Man, you are just like all the people I've bumped into over the course of my life," Ranma said in annoyance, showing no signs of being intimidated, "'How dare you!', 'I'll kill you!', 'Why you!', 'You want to die?'. Do all you bad guys read from the same book of 'things-to-say' for certain situations? Gee those comments wore thin a long time ago,"  
Kisame sneered.  
"Hey, consider us even," Ranma said coldly, "You started it first by being all tough-ass and shoving me like that back at the ramen shop, after I had genuinely apologized to you. If you wanna start something with me again, after we're even, go right ahead, but this time around, you're gonna regret it,"  
"Why you!" Kisame sneered, bringing his sword back to slash at Ranma.  
Ranma picked up another rock and threw it right by Kisame's head. The rock traveled right by his ear, passing by so closely that he was able to feel the wind of it traveling by him.  
Kisame had a surprised look on his face. He had actually seen Ranma reach down to pick up the rock and readied himself to dodge it. When he saw Ranma's arm move, he didn't see the rock traveling toward him until after he felt the rock fly right by one of his ears. What surprised him was that even while he was expecting the attack, he couldn't react until it was too late. He couldn't see the rock coming even though he had been expecting it. While used to seeing something or sensing an incoming attack and reacting, Kisame knew he was at a serious danger if Ranma could throw something at him faster than he could even see it, let alone react to it.  
"That was a warning," Ranma said, "I don't wanna fight. I would rather avoid a fight if that's possible. If you wanna fight, then I'll fight you, but I won't purposely miss the next time around. If you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone,"  
Kisame just glared toward Ranma. He couldn't help but wonder if an opponent like Ranma much more powerful than he had thought and that, in terms of skill, Ranma was more along the lines of Itachi's skill level.  
Ranma glanced in the direction of Itachi and noticed an amused look on the young man's face. It seemed like Itachi had noticed Ranma's ruse but not Kisame. Kisame had seen with his Sharingan eyes that Ranma had not thrown a rock. He never threw anything. All Ranma had done was gone through the motions of picking up a rock and throwing it.  
Ranma had used the throwing motion of his arm to actually disturb the air in front of him so that it would pass right by Kisame's ear, leaving him to believe he had just been missed.  
Had it not been for his Sharingan ability, Itachi would had been convinced that Ranma had thrown a rock as well. The way Ranma acted made the ruse seem very convincing, as if he really had thrown a rock.  
Itachi said, "Ranma, I apologize for my associate,"  
Kisame said, "What are you doing?"  
"Enough," Itachi said, giving Kisame a cold look.  
Kisame let out an annoyed breath as he put away his sword again. While reluctant to listen to Itachi, he knew not to cross him. Itachi was vastly more powerful than him and could kill him with a single look if he wanted to.  
"Leave us be," Itachi told Kisame, "I'd like to have a word with Ranma, alone,"  
"Fine," Kisame said with a snort, glaring at Ranma before turning around and walking off. Ranma and Itachi watched as the large man walked off, sitting down by a tree not too far away.  
"It seems like you're a very strong individual," Itachi stated. Ranma shrugged. That was usually his reaction to such a statement. He didn't care if he was powerful or not. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone and he grew up to realize that a long long time ago.  
"It seems like you're a strong individual as well," Ranma said, "I'm surprised you caught onto my trick. You must be really perceptive to see something like that,"  
Itachi smirked.  
"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Ranma asked curiously.  
"How would you like to join us?" Itachi offered.  
"Huh?" Ranma wasn't expecting something like that. He figured Itachi would be curious as to what those ki-blasts were that he had seen and how Ranma had done it.  
"We are part of an organization, The Akatsuki," Itachi said, "An individual like yourself would be a very valuable member to our group,"  
Ranma said, "Sorry, but I'm not interested,"  
"Are you sure?" Itachi asked, his voice soft.  
"Yeah, I'm sure," Ranma said.  
"It would be a shame if we were to ever cross paths under different circumstances and would have to fight one another," Itachi added, "It would be a shame for you to be killed where your obvious talents would go to waste,"  
Ranma smirked, "Thanks for the warning. I'll try and keep that in mind,"  
"Ranma!" came a voice.  
Ranma turned his attention in the direction of the voice. He found himself watching as Naruto came running across the open field, heading directly toward him. He had exited the village via the same opening in the outer wall as Ranma had.  
"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Ranma asked as Naruto came running up to him.  
"Ranma, I found you," Naruto said, pausing a moment to catch his breath.  
Naruto had woken up to use the bathroom and had realized Ranma was gone. He had gone out looking for Ranma and had happened to have seen those ki-blasts shooting up in the sky. Much like how Itachi and Kisame found Ranma, Naruto had done the same, by heading off to where the source of the ki-blasts had come from to investigate. For Naruto's case, he knew what those ki-blasts were and knew that they had come from none other than Ranma.  
"You're supposed to be asleep," Ranma said.  
"I thought you were going to stay until tomorrow," Naruto said.  
"I changed my mind," Ranma answered.  
Naruto looked toward Itachi as Itachi stared at him with a look of surprise, "Who are you?"  
"Oh, where are my manners," Ranma said. He gestured toward Itachi, "Naruto, this is Itachi. Itachi, this is Naruto,"  
Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit creeped out looking at the man standing next to Ranma. He had really cold-looking eyes and seemed to be staring at him longer than Naruto cared to admit. What struck Naruto as odd was that the man had eyes very much like Sasuke's Sharingan.  
"Um, how do you do?" Naruto gave a slight bow, taking care not to take his eyes off the man. The man looked dangerous. Why was Ranma associating with that man? There was something about that Itachi person that made Naruto uncomfortable.  
"You two know each other?" Itachi asked, looking between Ranma and Naruto.  
Ranma shrugged, "Yeah, more or less,"  
"Kisame," Itachi called out to his associate sitting nearby, "Come over here,"  
Kisame got up and walked up to the group, "What?"  
Itachi gestured toward Naruto, "It seems like, through a stroke of luck, we have found Naruto,"  
"This is that Naruto kid?" Kisame asked, a bit surprised.  
"Yes, it is," Itachi said.  
Ranma scratched his head, "What's going on? You guys know each other?"  
"I dunno," Naruto said.  
"Seize him," Itachi said softly, gesturing toward Naruto.  
Kisame grinned as he reached out and grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt and picked him up, "What a stroke of luck? It seems like our search is over. What are the chances?"  
"Hey! Let go of me!" Naruto said, struggling, "Who the hell are you?"  
Ranma took a step toward Kisame, intent on intervening, "Hey, I dunno what's going on here, but let go of Naruto,"  
Itachi placed a hand on Ranma to get his attention.  
"What?" Ranma asked, whirling around to face Itachi. Itachi smiled, "Remember how I said it would be a shame if we were to ever cross paths under different circumstances and would have to fight one another?"  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "What about it?"  
"Well, it seems like we will be fighting one another if you intend on intervening," Itachi said.  
"Oh, why do you say that?" Ranma smirked.  
Itachi continued to smile, "We've been looking for Naruto and we intend to take him, even if it means by force. I recommend you just walk away or you will be dying by my hands tonight,"  
Ranma suddenly realized who Itachi and Kisame had been talking about earlier that day in front of the ramen shop. He had remembered overhearing them looking for someone but had no idea who it was. It had never occurred to him that it would be Naruto.  
"Just walk away and no harm shall come to you," Itachi said, his visage during dark and serious, his voice very cold and dripping with malice.  
Ranma said, "I don't think so,"  
Itachi smirked as he looked deeply into Ranma's eyes.  
"Let's see if you'll say that after you experience my Tsukiyomi technique,"  
"What the?" Ranma was very surprised.  
Ranma had no idea where he was. All that he knew was that he was no longer standing just outside the village with Itachi, Kisame, and Naruto. He found himself unable to move, his arms stretched outward from his body as he seemed to be bound to a crucifix.  
All he could see was blackness in every direction, like he was in the middle of a room with walls and ceiling and floors too far away for him to see.  
From what Ranma could ascertain, he was bound to a cross that was surrounded by nothing but darkness in every direction.  
"The world of Tsukiyomi," Itachi suddenly appeared in front of him, "All of space. All of time. Every matter. Everything is under my control,"  
"Where am I?" Ranma asked.  
"You are in my world," Itachi smirked, "And in this world, I control everything, even you,"  
Ranma watched as Itachi seem to multiply himself over and over again, eventually multiplying so much that all of the darkness were filled with Itachi's. If Ranma were to count them, believed there would be a few million of them. "Whoa, that looks like some super-duper version of that Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique," Ranma said, "What do you intend to do,"  
Every single Itachi produced a large razor-sharp katana from his respective robe.  
"For the next seventy-two hours, you will be stabbed by each and every one of us by these katanas," every Itachi said in unison, their combined voices sounding like one large booming voice.  
Ranma's eyes widened in surprise.  
"Oh shit, this's gonna hurt,"  
Ranma fell down to one knee, looking down at the ground.  
"Ranma! What's wrong?" came Naruto's concerned voice.  
Naruto was shocked to see Ranma fall down to one knee. Here was a man that took on a monster basically by himself, was capable of shooting massive ki-  
blasts, and the person that Naruto somehow subconsciously looked up to, down on one knee, as if defeated.  
Where the hell am I, Ranma thought. Damn, what every the hell I went through, that sucked big time.  
It took a moment for him to take in his surroundings and realize he was now standing back outside the village, Itachi, Kisame, and Naruto nearby. It made him wonder what he had just gone through, like Itachi had somehow teleported him to some world for three days and now brought him back.  
Ranma rubbed his hands over his body.  
I have no wounds, Ranma thought. Oh, I see. It was all in my mind. What felt like three days had happened instantly.  
"I'm surprised you're still alive," he heard Itachi's voice, "You display great resilience to have survived something like that,"  
The young man was standing right in front of Ranma, gazing down at his defeated opponent. He was rather impressed at Ranma's spirit. His Tsukiyomi, while not physically harming his opponent, attacked at his opponent's mind, making him believe that he had just through three days of being continuously stabbed while crucified. It was a technique that usually utterly broke down an opponent's spirit where the opponent would die simply because the mind died. Afterall, where the mind went, the body followed.  
"Itachi, you should be careful since the 'eye' is dangerous to you as well," Kisame said. He was still holding Naruto by the collar as Naruto continued to struggle to free himself.  
"Argh!" Ranma heard Kisame's voice, "The damn brat bit me!"  
He heard the sounds of Naruto's footsteps running away from the group. He also heard the sound of Kisame's heavy footsteps as he seemed to give chase after the young boy.  
Realizing that that was his cue, Ranma suddenly stood up and shot out and arm, grabbing a surprised Itachi by the neck, lifting him up off his feet.  
"What the!" Itachi was genuinely surprised, caught completely off-guard that there was a brief moment of panic in his eyes.  
"So, that's that Tsukiyomi technique you just used on me?" Ranma sneered, "That's a nice trick you did back there. Whatever that thing is that you've made me go through, I've been through worse. Now it's my turn!"  
Ranma cocked his arm back, intent on hitting Itachi harder and letting Itachi know what it feels like to be punched by a pissed off Ranma.  
Itachi managed to compose himself and realize his situation. He realize that he was in a very bad predicament and that he and Ranma were looking directly into each other's eyes as Ranma spoke to him. He decided to risk using his Tsukiyomi technique once again.  
"Fuck!" Ranma said, realizing he was on a cross again. Once again, he was bound to a cross and he couldn't move, unable to move. It didn't take him more than one second to realize he was in that Tsukiyomi world Itachi had mentioned the first time around.  
"You surprised me quite a bit that you were able to move after having experienced my technique," Itachi said as he stood in front of Ranma.  
"You fucked with the wrong guy!" Ranma spat toward Itachi, "Go ahead and let's get this crap done and over with. When I get outta this, you're fucked,"  
"And what makes you say that?" Itachi smirked.  
"Because, now I understand your technique," Ranma said, grinning, "It seems like you can use that technique on me if we make eye contact. I've underestimated you that first time around and learned my lesson. Because of that, I decided to risk you doing this again to me so I can look into your eyes. Now I know everything there is about you,"  
"What?" Itachi said, believing Ranma was bluffing.  
"Your name is Uchiha Itachi," Ranma smirked, "You murdered your own parents. You know that Sasuke wants to kill you because of this. You graduated top of your Academy class at age 7. You master Sharingan by age 8. You became Chuunin at 9. You became an Anbu captain at age 13. You and Kisame want to kidnap Naruto because Naruto possesses that Nine-tails demon sealed deep within him. Akatsuki, the organization you're a part of, wants the harness the ki that the Nine-tails produces for themselves. However, you intend to betray them and use the power of the Nine-tails for yourself-"  
"Enough!" Itachi shouted, slashing at Ranma's stomach.  
"Erk!" Ranma said as he felt the pain of getting slashed. It only lasted a second but it really felt like he had been slashed and that his belly was wide open. Ranma recovered himself to say, "Go ahead. Do your worst. You're screwed when we come outta this. All this is happening in my mind. However, in the outside world, I'm currently holding you by the neck and I have my arm cocked back ready to punch you. Once we come outta this, you're getting punched no matter what,"  
"Enough!" Itachi shouted, slashing at Ranma again.  
Ranma didn't even bother yelling out in pain as he continued on, "You're going to get hit when we come outta this. No matter what. The only thing you can possibly do is use the Tsukiyomi technique once again, and pray that you'll kill me. Unfortunately for you, I know you're not gonna use it because you'll die if you use it a third time. You need rest between uses and you just used it twice on me over the span of around ten seconds. A third time will kill you no matter what,"  
Itachi said nothing. "Go ahead, Itachi-chan, let's get this over with. I've got your ass to kick when we get outta this,"

When Ranma came to after having experienced another three days of what most people would consider Hell, he realized he was right back where he really was, standing just outside the village with one arm held out and holding onto Itachi's neck, his other arm cocked back.  
"Well, it seems like you're still in a fucked up predicament," Ranma grinned at Itachi.  
Itachi darted a hand upward toward the forearm of Ranma's extended hand. Knowledgeable in the art of pressure points, a quick tap to a certain area in the forearm would make Ranma's hand involuntarily open.  
Ranma slapped the hand away with his free hand before Itachi could press the pressure points that would free him. He slapped Itachi's hand hard enough that massive surges of pain shout up the length of his shoulder.  
"Well, it seems like you know pressure points," Ranma said, "I'm impressed,"  
Itachi reached into one of the folds of his outfit and took out several daggers and threw it right at Ranma's chest at point blank range. Ranma swatted each and every one of them out of the way with his free hand. When Itachi came up with a plan and reached pulled out another dagger and was about to stab upward toward Ranma's extended forearm, Ranma grew tired of playing around and jabbed the young man square in the face.  
Itachi reached both arms up and tried to block it with his forearms but was unable to do anything as Ranma simply used brute strength to break right through Itachi's attempted guard and struck him in the face anyway.  
The young man's body went limp in Ranma's hand, the dagger falling right out of his grasp.  
"And just in case you're just faking that you're being unconscious," Ranma grinned.  
Ranma threw Itachi through the air where he ended up crashing into Kisame's back as the man grinned at Naruto as he held him up off his feet by his collar. It hadn't taken long for Kisame to catch Naruto but he had made the fatal mistake of leaving his back toward Ranma and Itachi. Afterall, he had assumed someone as powerful a fighter as Itachi would've taken care of Ranma with ease.  
Itachi crashed into Kisame with devastating force. Kisame didn't know what hit him as he ended up losing his hold of Naruto as Kisame and Itachi went tumbling on the ground, sliding to a halt around twenty feet away from where they collided.  
"Ugh," Kisame said, on his hands and knees, still conscious but heavily disoriented. The blow had knocked the wind out of him pretty badly and he might have suffered a concussion.  
Had he not had his sword strapped to his back and the sword taking the brunt of the force, he would had most likely been knocked out as well.  
Looking around to see what had happened, to see what had hit him, Kisame saw Itachi lying unconscious a short distance away. "What the?" was all the large man could say. Looking past Itachi's unconscious, he saw Ranma walking straight toward them, Naruto, now free, running away to safe and in Ranma's direction.  
"Your friend's an asshole just like you," Ranma said in a cold voice, stopping just a few feet away from him, "He's lucky that I'm a nice guy and didn't just outright kill him for what he did to me,"  
"Die!" Kisame shouted, grabbing a hold of his sword and swinging it out toward Ranma's legs, intent on cleaving his legs off at the knees.  
Ranma lifted one leg and brought it down with perfect timing, stomping down on the flat portion of the blade. He stomped down on it with enough force that the large blade became embedded in the ground.  
Upon stepping on the blade, he noticed the blade had this weird tendency of absorbing the ki within him. However, it didn't bother him none because he had plenty of it and it absorbed ki slower than he could take in ki from his surroundings.  
Kisame found himself unable to pull the blade.  
Ranma reached a hand up in the air and shot out a wickedly massive ki-blast, much more powerful than any ki-blast he had shot out before since he came to this world. He noticed he got Kisame's full attention as the large man stared upward with wide eyes as the ki-blast disappeared beyond the heavens.  
"Dude, I'm pissed right now," Ranma said, baring his teeth in a vicious sneer, "I suggest you pick up your associate and leave before I change my mind and shoot you with a ki-blast just like that,"  
Ranma stepped off the blade as Kisame got to his feet, pulling the blade from the ground. The large man made a sneering face at him. When he looked over toward Itachi's unconscious form, he looked surprised. He walked over to there and picked him up, slinging him over his shoulder.  
"I'll remember this," Kisame said, "I will kill you for this one day,"  
"Ah fuck it," Ranma said, "You had your chance to leave peacefully. But you just wanted to act like a bad-ass all the way until the very end, didn'tja? Here's what I think about that stupid last comment of yours,"  
He picked up a rock and threw it at Kisame. It hit Kisame right in head. The man was knocked out instantly, falling backwards where he landed on top of the unconscious Itachi.  
"Wow," Naruto said, "I thought you were going to let them go,"  
"So did I," Ranma said, "But I guess I changed my mind. I'm pretty unpredictable like that,"  
"What happened?" Naruto asked, "Why were they after me? What did I do?"  
Ranma looked at Naruto, feeling sorry for him.  
From what he had seen from looking into Itachi's eyes, Naruto would be killed should Itachi ever get his hands on him. He didn't care about Naruto and would have no qualms about killing him to getting his hands on the power of the Nine-  
tails demon buried deep within the boy.  
"You think we should, y'know, kill them?" Naruto asked, "That way, we won't hafta worry about them in the future,"  
"Nah," Ranma said, "I'm not gonna kill them. I'm not some murderer,"  
Naruto said, "Want me to kill them?"  
Ranma smirked, knowing Naruto would not have the heart to do something like murdering someone in cold-blood, "Go ahead,"  
Naruto reached into the folds of his outfit and pulled out a dagger. He walked over toward where those two unconscious individuals lay. There was a lot of hesitation on his face.  
"Um, maybe we shouldn't," Naruto said, "Killing's really bad,"  
Ranma laughed. He knew Naruto well enough that he wasn't the type that would kill. Naruto was much like Ranma. If they had to kill, they would only kill only under extreme circumstances, where killing was the last and only option.  
"What did that want with me?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said nothing, his lips a thin line. He felt really sorry for poor Naruto and the fate that would befall him should he ever get found and captured by those two individuals. Also, even if they did kill Itachi and Kisame, there would be others that would take their place.  
Ranma turned around and started walking eastward. "C'mon," he said, "Screw Jiraiya wanting you to go with him to look for the new Hokage. You're coming with me to Hidden Mist Village,"  
"I-I am?" Naruto asked, surprised to hear that. "Yeah, I'm gonna train you how to defend yourself against people like them,"

new stuff 12/28

Naruto woke up at around noontime, way past the usual time he woke up.  
It was understandable because Naruto had been exhausted and hadn't gone to sleep until close to four in the morning. Although he had been really excited at the thought of traveling with him and learning under Ranma's tutelage, his excitement wasn't enough to keep him awake with eagerness about his upcoming training.  
His neck hurt. Using a rock for a pillow was not a good idea. He was also a bit wet from the dew that had collected on his clothes over the course of the night and it made him all the more cold now that he was awake and aware of how cold it was.  
He had been too exhausted to be cold when he went to sleep that night.  
Naruto and Ranma had walked for a good two hour that night, traversing through dense forestation before they came upon a clearing with a river flowing right through it. Ranma had decided to stop there for the night. Yawning, he looked around for Ranma. He spotted Ranma a short distance away right by the riverbed. He was standing on the water, looking down into the river, a long stick in his hands, one end sharpened to a point.  
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone like Ranma would know something simple like staying on top of water without sinking," Naruto said to himself, stretching a bit as he got to his feet.  
Right by the river, he noticed a small pile of fish that Ranma had caught by spearing them with his stick as they swam by under him.  
"Ranma," Naruto called out.  
Ranma looked up from the river and toward Naruto, "Ah, he finally wakes,"  
"What time is it?" Naruto asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  
"Around noon," Ranma said, "Have a good sleep,"  
Naruto rubbed at his neck, "Not really. I see you know how to stand on water,"  
"Oh, that," Ranma said, smiling, "I know it looks weird but don't worry about that. It's a trick I learned a long time ago. If you want, I can teach you it,"  
Naruto smirked as he took a step and walked on the water as well. Ranma's eyes widened in surprise as his jaw dropped at the sight of seeing Naruto walking on water and up to him.  
"Don't worry," Naruto grinned confidently, "I already know how to do that,"  
"Wow," Ranma said, realizing that that kid was full of surprises, "I can't believe you know how to do that technique already. Walking on water isn't that easy to begin with. That's really impressive,"  
Naruto smiled happily, "Thanks,"  
"How long'd it take you to learn it?" Ranma asked.  
"A couple of days," Naruto answered.  
Ranma scratched his chin, "That doesn't make sense,"  
"What doesn't make sense, that I could learn something like this in a few days?" Naruto asked, "Well, I did,"  
"No, not that," Ranma said, "If you know how to walk on water, you should also know how to shoot ki-blasts. Manipulating your ki to lighten your bodyweight is actually harder than manipulating your ki to send it outta your hands,"  
"Lightening my bodyweight?" Naruto asked, "What are you talking about?"  
"What, you don't lighten your bodyweight?" Ranma asked, "Then how the hell do you walk on water? Aren't you using your ki to lighten your bodyweight so that you can float on water?"  
"No," Naruto said, "I'm using chakra on the bottom of my feet to keep me floating,"  
Ranma said, "Ohhhhh, that's how you do it. I thought you were floating on top of the water like I do, by using your ki to lighten yourself. I never suspected that you were using ki as a form of repulsion on the water surface to keep you afloat. It seems like we can both float on water, but we're doing it under completely different circumstances,"  
Ranma looked down at Naruto's feet where he could see that part of Naruto's feet were in the water, but only by a centimeter, if that. Unlike Naruto's feet, Ranma's feet were right on top of the water surface, as if the surface was made of concrete and his feet didn't sag down into the water.  
"Damn, I realized something, you're probably using your internal ki to keep you afloat, right?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto nodded.  
"Ah, that's why," Ranma said, "That's what confused me first. That's because I figure you were drawing in ki constantly to keep your bodyweight very light to stay afloat. That's why I was confused as to why you weren't able to do ki-  
blasts the other day if you could do something like this. I hadn't realized you were doing something completely different from myself in staying afloat,"  
"Why, is there something wrong with the way I do it from the way you do it?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya had showed him. Surely he couldn't be wrong to show him such a technique that would be considered wrong.  
"Quite," Ranma said, grinning.  
"What?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma kneeled down and placed his hand on the water.  
All of a sudden, Naruto found himself falling right down into the river he was standing on top of a second ago. The cold water stun like icy needles piercing his body.  
Naruto quickly swam to edge and climbed out of the river, gasping for breath, freezing.  
"What the heck did you just do?" Naruto shouted, believing it was somehow Ranma's fault that he had been plunged into the river.  
Ranma walked off the river and up to where Naruto was.  
"Hold on one second," Ranma said.  
He held his hands in front of Naruto. Within seconds, Naruto found all his clothes drying up and his body suddenly feeling warm, like it had just been submerged in bath full of warm water.  
Naruto just stared down at himself in shock. How the heck did Ranma do that? "I allowed my ki to flow into you and basically warm you up," Ranma answered Naruto's question before the young boy had a chance to say, "You can use ki to generate heat and such which is why your clothes are now dry. I used my ki to generate enough heat to evaporate all the water in your clothes but also to protect you from getting burned in the process,"  
Naruto was speechless, "Oh man, that's crazy,"  
Ranma smirked, "Yep, ki is a wonderful thing if you've mastered it enough to know how to use it,"  
"What did you do back there in the river?" Naruto asked, "I was standing on there and I saw you do something and I fell in,"  
"Oh, that's easy," Ranma said, "I used my ki to temporarily change the ki concentration in the water. That's the fatal flaw of walking on water using ki to generate a form of repulsive field under your feet to keep you afloat. Think of it as the bottom of your feet and the water itself being magnets of the same polarity. That's how you stay afloat. However, if I use my own ki to slightly alter the ki-polarity of the water, your way of walking on water will no longer be of any use,"  
Naruto said nothing. He felt like his world was falling apart. All the things he thought were right were somehow becoming undone. He had lived all his life thinking about how great chakra from within was and then all of a sudden along came Ranma to explain that that form of chakra use wasn't as useful as drawing it in from without.  
"I guess in this world, a huge flaw like that hasn't been realized since only someone like myself, who draws in ki from my surroundings, can do something like that," Ranma said, "You can do it with the ki within you. You need outside-ki to alter outside-ki," He smirked, "It seems like in this world, I'm at a huge advantage because I can use ki from within just like everyone else, but I can also use the ki that's drawn in from my surroundings,"  
"Is that why you're so strong?" Naruto asked, "Because you use a different form of chakra?"  
Ranma shrugged, "Perhaps,"  
"Can you show me how to do it?" Naruto asked curiously, "Y'know, walk on water the way you do,"  
Ranma said, "Sorry, but I can't. You need to understand that in order to do all the stuff that you wanna learn, you need a firm grasp on how to take in ki. If you can't take in ki really well, everything is useless. To do more advanced stuff, you need a firm foundation, that being the ability to draw in ki,"  
"But you said it would take months before I can get any good at it," Naruto said sadly.  
"That's why you need to start as soon as possible," Ranma said, "There's no easy way around learning this. You need to learn this through practice,"  
Naruto sighed.  
"Just keep practicing," Ranma said, "Eventually, you'll start catching on and getting used to it. It's most unfortunate that the learning curve for something like this is extremely steep. That's why virtually no one back where I come can do what I do, because they would long give up before they can actually start seeing real results,"  
"I know. I know," Naruto said, "What I'm learning I can only get better at with practice,"  
"Yep," Ranma nodded.  
Wanting to change the subject, Ranma gestured toward a small pile of stone, "Y'know how to make a campfire from scratch?"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. I learned how to do it at the academy,"  
"Cool," Ranma said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, "Can you start a fire? I'm gonna go and catch a few more fish from the river and then we can get started on cooking lunch,"  
"Okay,"

"I'm gonna teach you something new," Ranma said after eating a lunch.  
He and Naruto had eaten a lunch that consisted of nothing more than fish cooked over a campfire.  
"What is it?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma bent down and picked up a rock and tossed it back and forth between his hands, a grin on his face, "I'm gonna be throwing rocks at you and it's your job to dodge 'em or get hit,"  
"What?" Naruto's eyes widened in complete shock, "Y-you're gonna try and peg me with rocks? I saw what you did to that big guy with a sword with a rock! I don't wanna get hit by one of those!"  
Ranma smiled, "That's why you need to dodge. If you dodge 'em, you won't get hurt,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Why do you wanna doing this all of a sudden?" Naruto asked, "I thought my training consisted of meditating and that's it,"  
"I've had a change of heart," Ranma said, grinning, "We're gonna ramp up your training to something more...deadly,"  
"I don't this so!" Naruto said, "I'll stick with meditating, where there's no chance of me dying from that kinda training,"  
Ranma said, "C'mon, we need to change your training,"  
"Why?" Naruto asked.  
"After last night's encounter with Itachi and Kisame, it's obvious that you lack reflexes," Ranma said, "I wanna help build up your reflexes, so you can react quicker to anything,"  
"But throwing rocks at me? Why that of all kinds of training?" Naruto gasped.  
"Okay, how about we spar?" Ranma smirked.  
Naruto shook his head, "I don't think so. I never saw you fight before, and I don't care to find out myself,"  
Ranma laughed.  
"Look, you need to work on increasing your reflexes," Ranma said, "It's up to you,"  
Naruto was very hesitant.  
"Keep in mind that people seem to be looking for you," Ranma said.  
"Speaking of which, why me?" Naruto asked.  
"Beats me, Ranma lied, shrugging, "The point is is that you might be in danger. Having super fast reflexes will definitely come in hand,"  
Naruto remained silent, dreading the thought of being struck with a rock thrown by Ranma.  
"Don't worry, I'll go easy," Ranma smiled.  
"Fine," Naruto said, "If you believe that I need to improve myself in terms of reflexes, then I'll give it a try,"  
Ranma smirked. He found it amusing how Naruto seemed to readily accept his words and suggestions. It was as if Naruto knew that Ranma knew what was for the best and readily followed his orders.  
Ranma chucked the rock over his shoulder, "All right, let's get going,"  
"Going? Where?" Naruto asked, quickly following after Ranma, "We're not going to train today?"  
"We're gonna go find a town," Ranma said, "No, we're not training today. I wanna find us a town because I wanna get you a weighted vest,"  
"A weighted vest? What for?" Naruto asked.  
"Because, we're gonna have you wearing heavy weights all over your body while you try to dodge the rocks I throw at you," Ranma smiled.  
"What? Are you insane?" Naruto shouted, "Why?"  
Ranma chuckled, "Heh, not as insane as you because you're gonna be the one undergoing this training regime. Wearing the vest will really handicap you but over time, you'll get used to it. That way, it'll allow you to develop quick reflexes as well as develop your speed to accommodate those reflexes,"  
Naruto said nothing, dreading the thought of what he would be going through.  
Ranma laughed.  
"Heh, you're so screwed. You're gonna be in a world of hurt,"

new stuff 12/29

Ranma and Naruto found themselves walking down a busy street of village they came across. The village was a small village named Tanzakugai. It was roughly half the size of the Hidden Leaf Village, the village from which they had come. Located directly East of Hidden Leaf Village, it was easy for the two of them to stumble upon it, especially when they were looking for a village to stop of at at the time. It was around three in the afternoon, the two of them having walked for around two hours before coming across the village. "Hey, how many towns do you think there are between here and Hidden Mist Village?" Ranma asked, curious, "The way I think about it, maybe we can travel East from village to village until we get there,"  
Naruto thought about it for a moment, "Only four villages, but this is the only village that's directly on the way to Hidden Mist Village. And speaking of which, why are we heading there? I know you wanna go there, but for what reason?"  
"I already told you," Ranma said, "There's an Information Guild I was told that exists there. I wanna find that place because that's the best place to go to to get some information that can get me home,"  
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked, "You don't even know what village you came from? I know you appeared here suddenly, but you should at least know what the name of that village is,"  
Ranma smirked, "I doubt anyone here can knows where MegaTokyo is because that's where I live,"  
"MegaTokyo? I never heard of it," Naruto said, wishing he could be more helpful.  
Ranma said, "Don't worry, it's understandable that no one would know. Where my home tome is not really an issue, it's a matter of exactly how I can get there that is,"  
Naruto scratched his head, "You're not making any sense,"  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, "It's about finding a way of leaving this world and going to other worlds. You don't hafta worry about it anyway,"  
"But I wanna help," Naruto offered, "If you're going through so much trouble to train me, I wanna try and help you out in whatever way I can,"  
Ranma rubbed a hand on the top of Naruto's head, "Aw, you're such a nice kid. But don't worry about it. All you need to worry about is yourself and your training," Naruto said nothing. He dreaded the thought of the kind of training he would be soon undergoing but didn't have the heart to really protest. There was wisdom in Ranma's words. Something like that would really help him. But of all things, why a form of training that would be very painful if he made any mistakes?  
When Naruto had mentioned about that, about how he was very worried about getting hurt by the incoming rocks, Ranma had mentioned something about how the best way to learn was the hard way. Naruto didn't really understand what that meant. Ranma had simply grinned and said that he would understand when he started undergoing his training.  
"What are we going to do now?" Naruto asked, "Can we get something to eat?"  
Ranma smirked, "What, you're hungry? We only ate three hours ago,"  
"So?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma laughed. It seemed like they were the same, bottomless pits and eternally hungry.  
"Okay, we can go eat, but first we need to get you a weighted vest," Ranma said, very sure that something like that would exist in this world. On this world, he wouldn't be surprised if he could find one at a local convenience store, "That way, you can get started on your training right away,"  
"Wait, I'm gonna train first and then we're gonna eat?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "No. Your training will start with you wearing the vest. Learning to wear and walk around while wearing a weighted vest will be a part of your training,"  
Naruto said nothing. Ranma looked around and nearby stores. He had a few things he needed to take care of. Before he could buy a weighted vest for Naruto, he needed some money. When he spotted a small shop that looked like a mini-casino, he smiled.  
"How much money do you have?" Ranma asked, turning toward Naruto.  
"Not much," Naruto said, "Why?"  
Ranma held out a hand as he said, "Gimme some money,"  
"What?" Naruto said, eyes wide, "Don't you have your own money?"  
"Hey, if I had money, do you think I would've asked if the people at the ramen shop would give me a meal for free?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto sighed as he reached into one of his pockets and took out his coin bag. The coin bag looked like a cute frog where the mouth had to open up to access the coins.  
"How much do you need?" Naruto asked reluctantly.  
"Just give me the whole thing," Ranma said, his hand still out.  
"What? No!" Naruto said, "I've been saving up for weeks for my money,"  
"So?" Ranma asked, "Quit being stingy,"  
Naruto seemed reluctant.  
Ranma said impatiently, "Don't worry about your money. I'll pay you back,"  
Naruto reluctantly handed Ranma his frog coin bag.  
"Aw, what a cute little frog," Ranma chuckled, looking at the coin bag, "It seems like he's hungry because he needs more coin to feed on,"  
The coin bag looked rather empty. It barely looked like a frog with so little coins in there.  
"Let's go," Ranma said, heading into the casino.  
"Hey, what do you intend to do?" Naruto followed after him.  
"I'm gonna go gamble away your money," Ranma chuckled.  
"What?" Naruto shouted, "I've been saving up for weeks for that much! I don't want you gambling it away,"  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma smiled confidently, "I'm good at this stuff,"  
Ranma stopped in front of a slot machine. Naruto had trouble believing him, "I don't care. I don't want you to gamble my money away. What if you lose?"  
Ranma put a coin in and pulled the lever to the slot machine.  
A ringing noise started sounding from the slot machine.  
"Ha! I won!" Ranma chuckled, reaching down and grabbing at the large pile of coins that started spewing out of the machine and onto the ground.  
"Wow!" Naruto said in shock, "You won all that with just one coin?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, pretty cool, huh?"  
"There's more money here than I've ever seen!" Naruto said, reaching down and grabbed a handful of coins, "We're rich,"  
"We're rich? I dunno about that," Ranma grinned.  
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, "There's so much money here. Of course we're rich,"  
Ranma reached down and picked up a coin and handed it to Naruto. He also handed Naruto back his frog coin bag. Naruto looked at the frog coin bag in one hand and the coin in the other hand, a bit confused.  
"Here's the coin I owe you," Ranma laughed, "'We' are not rich. 'I' am rich,"  
"What?" Naruto said, "Hey! That's no fair!"  
"Life seldom is," Ranma smiled, "Hey, whatcha complaining about, you got your coin back. I paid you back like I had expected,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma laughed as he placed a hand on the top of Naruto's head, messing up the young boy's hair, "Don't worry, I'm just messing with you,"  
"D-does that mean we can split the money?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma smiled at Naruto.  
"Actually, you can have all of it,"

Ranma smirked as he watched Naruto trying to lug a massive bag full of coins.  
He himself had a small bag of coins, enough to buy afford them their next meal and a weighted vest.  
"Lemme guess, you intend to carry all that money with you everywhere we go from here on?" Ranma asked, smirking all the while.  
Naruto nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow, "Yeah. There's so much money here. We can eat super-expensive meals and sleep at the most luxurious hotels with this money and have plenty left for other things,"  
"You don't need that money," Ranma said, "It's more trouble than it's worth,"  
"What do you suggest we do with it?" Naruto said.  
Ranma said, "Give me the bag,"  
Naruto handed Ranma the bag of coins. He picked it up and slung it over his shoulder with ease, which impressed Naruto with his strength. That bag must have weighed close to a hundred pounds and Ranma lifted like it weighed nothing.  
"What are you going to do with it?" Naruto asked curious.  
Ranma didn't bother to answer. Naruto found himself following as Ranma walked down the street. He came to a stop when he saw something that surprised him.  
"Wow, you don't see that everyday," Ranma said. "What?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma gestured with his chin since both his arms were full, one carrying the bag containing necessary coins for what the needed, and the other carrying nothing but excess money.  
Naruto looked down the street where he saw a young looking girl walking a pig on a leash.  
"Wow, a pig," Naruto said, "You're right, you don't see that every day,"  
Ranma walked off to approach the girl. The girl looked to be around twenty.  
"Hi," Ranma smiled.  
The girl looked up at Ranma.  
"Um, hi," she said, regarding the handsome young man curiously but cautiously.  
"I'm Ranma," he said. "I'm Shizune," the girl answered.  
"That's a cute pig," Ranma said, "Is it yours?"  
The girl shook her head, "No. It belongs to a friend of mine. I'm walking it for her,"  
"The pig looks like it can sure eat a lot," Ranma said.  
She regarded Ranma for a bit, wondering if he was hitting on her or such. While a pretty girl, no guy had ever hit on her before so she didn't really know if she was being hit on. It was strange that some guy would walk up to her and strike up a conversation with her out of nowhere.  
"Do we know each other?" the girl asked. She didn't recognize Ranma at all.  
Ranma shook his head, "Nope. We've never met until now,"  
"How come you're talking to me?" she asked curiously.  
Ranma extended the bag of money forward toward the girl, "Would you like some money? We don't need this money,"  
"What?" Naruto said, "Y-you're giving her all our money? Why?"  
Ranma said, "Not all our money, just the money we don't need,"  
"But-" Naruto said.  
"We don't need it," Ranma interrupted, "It's not necessary for us to have that money," Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma turned back toward the girl named Shizune, "Would you like this money? We don't need it?"  
"What's the catch?" the girl asked, cautious.  
"No catch," Ranma said, "Do you want it or not?"  
"Um, sure," she said, "This can actually help pay off some of my friend's debt,"  
"So I take it you want it?" Ranma smirked.  
"Sure," she said, taking the bag of coins. It fell down by her feet. She was surprised at how heavy the bag was. Ranma held it out like it weighed nothing.  
"It's heavy," Ranma smirked. He watched as Shizune gestured for the pig to sniff at the bag. After a

minute, the pig stopped sniff and looked up at the girl.  
"Um, thanks," Shizune said. The pig with her was a special pig that could sniff out traps. Since it seemed like the bag was not booby trapped, it really was full of coins, "Um, how come you're giving me this much money?"  
Ranma said, "We don't need it. Nothing much more than that,"  
"How can I ever thank you?" she asked, grateful, "My friend, Tsunade, has a lot of debt to pay off and something like this can really help her out,"  
Ranma said, "Don't worry about it,"  
Something caught Ranma's attention, the name of her friend that Shizune had given. Tsunade was the name of the woman Jiraiya had been talking about being a good candidate for the new Hokage of Hidden Leaf Village. "Wait, did you say your friend's name is Tsunade?"  
new stuff 12/30

Tsunade was a beautiful woman and well-endowed young woman with long blond hair. A bright and talented female ninja with a habit for gambling and usually losing all her money in the process, she was the grand daughter of the First Hokage.  
Although the same age as Jiraiya, around fifty, she looked to be somewhere in her mid-twenties. This was because she had a special ability that gave her the appearance of someone very young.  
She was sitting by a table of a restaurant when she saw her companion, Shizune enter. She didn't even notice Ranma, her gaze drawn onto Naruto. This was because Naruto had a striking resemblance to her baby brother whom had died many many years ago, trying to attain a dream she found useless.  
It wasn't until the three of them approached her table did Tsunade notice Ranma. She noticed an aura to him that belied his age. It made her wonder if Ranma had some special ability that made him remain young much like she had.  
"Friends of yours?" Tsunade asked Shizune, reaching down and petting her pig as it scampered by her leg and went to sleep on the floor. Shizune had walked her pig for her because her pig needed a walk.  
"They are now," Shizune said, bringing up a bag full of coins and placing it on the table. The table shuddered slightly under the weight of all the bag.  
"What's this?" she asked curiously.  
Shizune smiled, "Money, lots of it,"  
"I'm Ranma and this here is Naruto," Ranma gestured.  
Tsunade said, "I'm Tsunade,"  
"Anyway, we don't need the money," Ranma said, "So we figure it could go to good use by giving it to someone else. Shizune here happens to be the first person that caught our attention," Had she not been walking the pig, Ranma probably wouldn't had noticed her and had given the money to someone else.  
Ranma found himself having trouble looking away from Tsunade. This was because he was a guy and she had very large breasts. Luckily for him, there was an aspect of her that he could focus on, this small mark on her forehead that looked like a diamond. It reminded him of Urd and Skuld because they had markings on their foreheads as well.  
It made him wonder if that mark was for.

Tsunade regarded the bag for a moment before looking toward Ranma.  
"We don't need it," Tsunade said, pushing the bag of coins back in the direction of Ranma. This impressed him because she did so with just one hand where Shizune struggled with two hands.  
"What?" Shizune gasped, "Why not? This will come in handy at paying off your debts,"  
Tsunade nodded, "Yes, it will, but I don't accept charity,"  
"But you're willing to accept loans and not pay them back?" Shizune asked.  
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Shizune which seemed to quiet the young girl.  
"We don't need it," Tsunade said, "It's best that you take your money and go elsewhere. I'd like to be left alone. I have a lot on my mind,"  
Little did Ranma know that Tsunade had bumped into Orochimaru earlier in the day. Orochimaru had asked for her help, to heal him of the permanent injuries he had sustained fighting the Hokage. He had given her a proposal, that if she heal him, he would bring back to life two very important people that she had been killed a long time ago.  
"Are you sure you don't want it?" Ranma asked, "Can you consider it as payment then?"  
"For what?" Tsunade asked.  
"To hear me out," Ranma said, figuring he should do Jiraiya a favor if this really was the person he was looking for. Sure, there were probably a lot of people named Tsunade, but who know, perhaps he might be in luck and this was the person Jiraiya was talking about.  
Tsunade said, "What is it you want to tell me?"  
"Do you know a guy named Jiraiya?" Ranma asked.  
"Yes," she said, "What about him?"  
"Well, he's looking for you," Ranma said, "I figure since I bumped into you, I might as well drop you the news. Who knows when or where you'll bump into Jiraiya,"  
She asked, "Why's he looking for me?" Ranma said, "I'm not too sure of the details. It's something about the Hokage of Hidden Leaf Village having been killed and him looking to find you so you could be the new replacement Hokage,"  
"What?" Naruto shouted. He was hearing this for the first time and was shocked at what he heard. He had no idea who Tsunade was and hearing something like her expected to become the new replacement Hokage stunned him. "The third Hokage was-" Ranma began.  
"Killed," Tsunade said.  
"Hm, it seems like news travels fast," Ranma said.  
Tsunade knew about that because Orochimaru had told her that during their brief encounter.  
"It's that bastard's, Orochimaru's, fault!" Naruto shouted toward no one in particular, "It's all because of him that the Hokage is dead!"  
"You know who Orochimaru is?" Tsunade asked, surprised at Naruto's statement.  
"Not really," Naruto answered, angrily, his anger not directed at Tsunade, "I came across him a while ago during one of my Genin exams. I saw him recently fighting the Hokage,"  
Ranma recalled his talk with Jiraiya. They had spoke briefly shortly after having found out about the death of the Hokage. Had Naruto hung around instead of running of to be by himself, he would had found out about Orochimaru from Jiraiya himself.  
Ranma said, "Orochimaru is one of the Three Ninjas. Jiraiya and Tsunade and Orochimaru make up that team,"  
"Wait, aren't the Three Ninjas from Hidden Leaf Village?" Naruto asked, "Why would Orochimaru attack our village's Hokage?"  
Ranma said, "How the heck should I know? I'm just recalling what Jiraiya mentioned to me. I don't know anything about the Three Ninjas or nothing. All I remember was Jiraiya mentioning to me about how he would go looking for Tsunade to ask her,"  
"Is that why you think Jiraiya would come looking for me, to ask me to tag along with him looking for her?" Naruto asked, jerking a thumb toward Tsunade.  
Ranma said, "Perhaps. Who knows?"  
"Who are you, kid?" Tsunade asked curiously, wondering if what Ranma said was true, the purpose of Jiraiya having an interest in the young boy.  
"He's Uzumaki Naruto," Ranma said.  
Tsunade recognized the name. It was the name of the boy that had the Nine-  
Tails demon sealed within him. Not many people knew about that. Only elite and very powerful ninjas knew about this.  
Ranma noticed she seemed to recognize Naruto's name. It made him wonder what was so special about Naruto. Sure, he was a bright young boy and gifted in martial arts, but people like Sasuke and Neji seemed like they were more powerful fighters than Naruto.  
"Hey! How come she gets to be the Hokage? Why?" Naruto asked loudly, pointing at Tsunade.  
"How the heck should I know?" Ranma asked, "I'm just passing by and that's what I heard. It wasn't my business to ask why or why not when I was talking to Jiraiya. All I remember is him mentioning that she should be Hokage and that's it. Whether not she accepts is her prerogative. I'm just doing Jiraiya a favor and acting as a messenger,"  
"I decline," Tsunade said after a long pause. Ranma noticed the surprised look on Shizune's face. This was because Tsunade declining meant she was giving consideration Orochimaru's earlier proposal. Since Orochimaru hated Hidden Leaf Village, it would seem very hypocritical to help out the village and become their new Hokage while helping out Orochimaru as well.  
Ranma said, "Well, that's most unfortunate, but I guess it can't be helped. If you don't wanna take over as the new Hokage, it's not my place to force you or even try and convince you otherwise,"  
"I appreciate the offer, but I decline," Tsunade said.  
"You don't need to tell me if you don't wanna, but is there any way you can tell me why?" Ranma asked curiously. There was something about her that made it seem like she would not only be good for the role of Hokage, but that she also wanted to accept the role but couldn't.' If there was something simple that was preventing her from accepting the role, then he would try and help out. However, he had no intention of bending over backwards to help someone out if that was the case.  
"Did you know that there was a fourth Hokage before the third one died?" Tsunade began after a moment.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, something like that. I heard from Jiraiya that the Forth Hokage died saving the village from some giant monster that attacked the village many years ago. I heard the Third Hokage, whom had stepped down from the role of Hokage to pass it over to the Forth, had to resume the role again after the Forth died. I guess now that the Third died, that's why a Fifth Hokage is needed,"  
Tsunade nodded, "The Third and Forth both gave their lives for their village,"  
"There's nothing wrong with that," Ranma said, "There's nothing wrong losing your life protecting something,"  
"Life is different from money," Tsunade said, gesturing toward the bag of coins on the table, "It can't be gambled away that easily. Whoever puts their lives at risk so easily is a fool,"  
Naruto gritted his teeth, as if personally offended by that statement.  
"The First Hokage, my grandfather, and the Second Hokage both focused too much on bringing peace to our home, more than anything else," Tsunade said sadly, "But as a result, they just died in the middle of their dreams like losers,"  
Ranma said, "There's nothing wrong with that, dying while trying to attain your dream,"  
"Bah," Tsunade spat, "It's the same for the Third Hokage. He died trying to attain peace for the village like previous Hokages. In the end, he wasted away his life pursuing a worthless dream,"  
Ranma glanced toward the side and noticed Naruto's hands clenched into fists. It seemed like all those comments were inadvertently insulting toward Naruto even though Tsunade and those words weren't directed directly toward him. "Being Hokage is a joke," she said seriously, "No one but a fool would do it,"  
A loud crash could be heard as Naruto jumped up on the table, crushing several plates full of food under his feet as he rushed across it toward Tsunade, intent on attacking her.  
Ranma reached out and grabbed Naruto from behind, preventing him from being able to attack Tsunade, "Calm down, Naruto. There's no need to fight. I dunno what she said that angered you so much, but you need to learn to keep calm. Dontcha realize we're in a restaurant?"  
"Let me go!" Naruto shouted toward Ranma.  
He then turned toward Tsunade as she remained calmly in her seat.  
"I can't forgive anyone that says bad things about our Hokage and the Forth!" Naruto sneered, "I don't care even if she is a woman! I'm going to kick her ass!"  
Tsunade got up from her seat and brought her face close to Naruto's, "You've got some guys to say such things to me, boy. Fine, let's take this outside,"  
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune said in concern.  
"Fine! Let's step outside!" Naruto said, accepting the challenge.  
Ranma pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand.  
All he could do was sigh.  
Ranma stood next to Shizune. By his feet were the bags full of coins as the pig.  
They were outside the restaurant and by the middle of a somewhat empty street. There weren't many people about and the ones that were were going about with their day anyway.  
Naruto and Tsunade were facing one another in the middle of that street.  
"You don't think the fight will get outta hand, do ya?" Ranma asked curiously.  
Shizune said, "Yes, she is one of the Legendary Three Ninjas so there's nothing to worry about. She can take care of herself. Naruto will be no trouble for her,"  
"I know that. What I mean is that Tsunade's not gonna hurt him, right?" Ranma asked, "I can easily tell that she can take care of herself so I'm not worried about what Naruto can do. Naruto's still young and learning. But Tsunade, she'll hold back, right? I don't wanna interfere if I don't hafta. Something like this would be a good lesson for Naruto,"  
"She is no monster if that's what you mean," Shizune said confidently, "The boy's ego by get hurt more than he would,"  
"Okay, that's fine," Ranma said, turning his gaze back onto the two combatants.  
"I've been one of the Three Legendary Ninjas," Tsunade said, "I don't even have to be serious to fight this little ninja boy,"  
"Shut up!" Naruto sneered, fuming.  
"One finger should be enough," Tsunade said, holding up an index finger.  
Naruto charged Tsunade, pulling out a dagger from one of his pockets.  
"Damn, he's using weapons!" Ranma said, taking a step forward to intervene. He figured that this would be some form of fight that only used hand-to-hand combat. The use of weapons upped the risks of Naruto getting hurt seriously. Tsunade might get angry and really hurt him for him trying to use weapons on her.  
While still holding his dagger, Naruto reached into his pockets and pulled out two throwing stars, throwing it toward Tsunade. Tsunade skillfully dodged the thrown shurikens and grabbed the dagger Naruto still had in his hands.  
She slashed the dagger upward, knocking the headband Naruto off but not harming Naruto. This caught Naruto by surprise as he found himself looking up instinctively. When he looked back down, Tsunade flicked a finger at Naruto's forehead, sending the young boy flying backwards where he landed around twenty feet away from Tsunade.  
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune said.  
"Wow, that's impressive," Ranma said, his gaze following the path of the dagger as if arched through the air. Tsunade had used the dagger to slash at Naruto and throw it upward as she did so.  
As Naruto slowly go up to his feet, the dagger landed right in front of him, missing his head by inches. A second later, the headband that we knocked off landed nearby.  
Ranma turned toward Shizune, "Wow, your friend's really good. She basically kicked Naruto's ass with one finger,"  
He wondered how strong Tsunade was. For her to be able to do that with just one finger, flick someone away, she had to be incredibly strong. Perhaps not as strong as Ryoga since Ryoga was ungodly strong, but damn strong regardless.  
"Wow, for a woman, she sure is strong," Ranma said, "That's really surprising,"  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shizune asked, a bit offended, "What does she being a woman have to do with her being strong?"  
Ranma gave a meek smile, realizing that he needed to shut up. Realizing he needed to change the subject, he quickly knelt down and started petting the pig on the top of its head.  
"My, what a cute pig," Ranma said.  
Shizune narrowed her eyes toward Ranma for a bit before she turned her attention onto Tsunade's and Naruto's fight.  
"Hey, kid," I'll ask you one thing before you pass out," she said, "Why do you get so excited just by hearing the word 'Hokage'?"  
Naruto said, "Unlike you, I really wanna succeed the 'Hokage' name and I will, because it's my dream to become Hokage,"  
Ranma grinned. While the idea of Naruto becoming Hokage seemed far-fetched to someone like Naruto, it was quite an ambitious dream. Ranma kind of wished he could have a dreams like that. Afterall, after becoming God, what possible ambition could there be that would be even greater than that?  
The words seemed to struck a chord with Tsunade as she seemed to pause, inwardly reflecting upon herself something from her past. This was because those words reminded her of her dead baby brother whom had had such a dream like that, and even said very similar words about becoming Hokage as well.  
She's distracted, Naruto realized. Now's my chance!  
He cupped his hands close to his body as he concentrated on drawing in ki from his surroundings.  
Naruto shouted as he concentrated harder than he had ever concentrated before, willing his body to draw in as much ki as humanly possible. Sure, he had only learned what Ranma had taught him just recently, but he had nothing to lose. If he were to fight straight up against as powerful as Tsunade, he would lose. He needed to use something on her that she had never seen before.  
"Ahhhh!" Naruto shouted, feeling his body suddenly becoming hot as it drew in ki from its surroundings. Ranma's eyes widened as he caught a blue aura starting to form around him as he drew in ki from everywhere. "Holy shit!" Ranma was shocked at what he was seeing believing Naruto must be some form of martial arts genius to be able to draw in ki like that. He was drawing ki in faster than ever before, drawing in ki in a second what would have taken him at least ten minutes to do beforehand. "W-what is this?" Tsunade said, sensing great power coming from the young boy. She had never seen something like this before in her life, "Is this the Nine-Tails?"  
Winds started to pick up around Naruto as dust on the ground started to swirl around him like that of a whirlwind as he continued to draw in ki. All of a sudden, the ki seemed to become visible as a orange sphere of energy formed within his cupped hands, the sphere no larger than a tennis ball.  
Ranma's eyes widened as he realized what Naruto was going for.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto shouted, extended his hands toward Tsunade.  
Naruto didn't get a chance to see if it was possible for him to shoot a ki-  
blast because he found himself suddenly falling down into a large crevice that suddenly formed below him. All he could do was yelp out in surprise, losing complete concentration as he fell down the crevice where he ended up getting stuck.  
Ranma looked over toward Tsunade and noticed she had a finger jammed in the ground. She had used one finger to hit the ground and create a mini-earthquake that had opened the ground up wide enough for Naruto to fall in. It was unlike Ranma's Bakusai Tenketsu technique where Ranma used precision to disturb the ground. She had used brute strength behind that one finger to open up the ground.  
As impressed as Ranma was at Tsunade's freakish strength, he was more impressed with Naruto and how it looked like he had almost shot a ki-blast. It made Ranma realize he had grossly underestimated Naruto, believing it would take months for Naruto to learn such a technique and he able to do it only after a day.  
God, he learns as almost as quickly as I do, Ranma thought. It seems like there's a lot more to this kid than meets the eye. Perhaps he has the potential to fight against people like Sasuke and Neji. Heck, at this rate, it won't be long before he can defend himself against monsters like that Itachi person.  
Naruto climbed out of the crevice as Shizune rushed up to the boy.  
"Are you okay?" she asked Naruto as the boy coughed several times.  
Ranma regarded Naruto. He found himself a bit annoyed at how Naruto would try and use what he had just recently taught him against someone out of anger and not as a way of protecting himself like it was originally intended. He would have to have a talk with him later.  
"Did you teach him that?" Tsunade turned toward Ranma. She had no idea what relationship Ranma and Naruto had but it seemed like that of a Master and a disciple. While Ranma wasn't much older than Naruto in appearance, he looked wiser beyond his years.  
Ranma smiled proudly, "Yeah. I taught him that technique, at least the gist of it. But it seems like he figured it out mostly on his own,"  
"What technique was that?" Tsunade asked, "It looked like the Rasengan,"  
"Rasengan?" Ranma asked, scratching his head, "What's that?"  
"A technique that only the Forth Hokage and Jiraiya can use," she stated.  
"Who knows," Ranma said, "Even if it is something similar, what's wrong with that? It can come in handy later on,"  
"If it is the Rasengan, teaching him something he can not do is wrong," she said, pausing for a moment, "It's better if he doesn't think that way, so silly kids won't joke about foolish dreams like 'becoming Hokage',"  
"It's not a joke!" Naruto shouted coldly at Tsunade, "You idiot! Idiot!"  
Tsunade glared at Naruto.  
"All I need is three days and I'll master that technique Ranma-niisan is showing me. And it isn't called the Rasengan, whatever it is! It's better! It's called the Mouko Takabisha!"  
Ranma scratched the back of his head, wondering if Naruto knew what the heck he was talking about.  
"Heh, some words, brat," Tsunade said, "A man's word should never be taken back,"  
"Huh?" Naruto asked. He smirked after a moment, "I won't take my words back. That is my ninja way,"  
The words surprised Tsunade.  
"Well then, is that so?" she smirked, reaching for the necklace that hung around her neck, "I'll give you one week. If you can master that technique, that Mouko Takabisha technique you call it, I will acknowledge that you could become the Hokage and I'll give you this necklace,"  
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune chimed in, "That's your precious,"  
"I don't want that ugly necklace," Naruto said to Tsunade.  
Tsunade said, extending her hand forward to Naruto reveal his cute frog coin bag. The bag was full of coins, Naruto having filled it up with the coins won at the casino earlier.  
"It's too late, a bet is a bet," she said, "If you can't master that technique in a week, then you lose. All your money will belong to me,"  
"Aw! My frog coin bag!" Naruto shouted, wondering when she had taken it in the first place.  
"I'm keeping the coin bag until then," Tsunade turned around and started walking away, "Shizune, let's get going,"  
"Where will we find you?" Ranma asked curiously, "I mean in a week from now?"  
"Don't worry, I'll find you," she said.  
Ranma shrugged, "Okay. That sounds fine by me,"  
He and Naruto watched as Tsunade began walking off, the pig happily following behind. He noticed that Tsunade didn't seem to have any problems taking the bag full of coins she had declined before. "C'mon, let's get started with my training," Naruto said, "I'm gonna go learn that Mouko Takabisha technique and show Tsunade a thing or two, to shut her up about it being stupid to becoming Hokage. I always want my frog coin bag back and can't get it back until I win,"  
Ranma smirked at Naruto, regarding him for a moment.  
"Didja know you just told her you were gonna learn yourself the Mouko Takabisha in one week?" Ranma asked.  
"Yeah," Naruto said, "What about it?"  
"One week!" Ranma said.  
"Yeah, so?" Naruto said, "What, you think I can't learn it?"  
Ranma fell to the floor laughing, pointing at Naruto.  
"Bwahahahaha, you're so screwed!"  
Naruto struggled to walk while wearing the weighted vest as they walked down the street toward the outskirts of the city.  
"Why do I hafta wear this?" Naruto asked, "And how heavy is this damn thing? It weights a ton,"  
"Because, it's part of your training," Ranma said, "Don't be a wimp. Shinji started off wearing a vest about as heavy as that and he's much weaker than you when he started,"  
"Who's Shinji?" Naruto asked, "Some friend of yours?"  
"A young man who I've trained for several years," Ranma said, "I'm his sensei and I trained him to take over my dojo for when I'm gone,"  
"A dojo?" Naruto asked, "I didn't know you owned a dojo. What's the name of your school?"  
Ranma said, "I'm a sensei. That's my true profession where I live. And yes, I own a dojo. It's called the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts,"  
Naruto said, "Anything Goes?"  
Ranma chuckled, "Actually, that's what I call it. Its real name is The School of Indiscriminant Grappling, but people came to know it as the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. It just stuck so I changed the name to that and left it as that,"  
"So, this Shinji kid you gave this weighted vest training as well?" Naruto asked, adjusting his vest.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, and it really helped him out. And he's not as good at learning martial arts as you. Something like this will help you out greatly,"  
Naruto resigned himself to the harsh training, "Gee, I hope so. Then again, Rock Lee did that also and it seemed like it really helped him out,"  
"Rock Lee?" Ranma asked, "Who's that?"  
"Some ninja much like myself," Naruto said sadly, "He got really hurt fighting against Gaara in the preliminaries before the tournament where you showed up and ended up in the hospital. He was weird but he was a pretty cool guy too,"  
Ranma asked, "I'm sorry to hear that that happened to him. How did you he trained with weights?"  
"Because, during the preliminary matches, I saw him take them off," Naruto said, "And his speed increased dramatically. It's as if those weights limited his speed and kept him handicapped,"  
"That's the point in the training," Ranma said, "Doing so handicaps you. Eventually, your body gets stronger and adapts to it. When you take the weights off, and your body is no longer handicapped, it'll move faster than you can possibly believe. However, you need to never take your vest off until the appropriate time,"  
Naruto became hopeful, "How long will it be before I can take my weighted vest?"  
"Well, for Shinji, he wore it for eight months," Ranma said, "Since you seem to pick things up much quicker than him, I'd probably say around half that, four months,"  
"Four months?" Naruto gasped, "That's so long! I thought it was only going to be a few days or so!"  
Ranma shook his head, "I don't think so. It doesn't work that way. You need to wear weights for a long long time before you can see any real benefits. For instance, I've worn weighted bracers for decades. A person I know, Ryoga, carries a weighted backpack,"  
"You wear weighted bracers?" Naruto asked, "How does that work?"  
Ranma removed one of the bracers around his forearms, "These things are filled with ki which makes it extremely heavy. Since there exist no substance that can be that small and weight that much, only ki works at making things heavy. It's just like when you saw me walking on the water, because I was manipulating my bodyweight with my ki to become very light. You can do the same for making things really heavy,"  
Naruto reached out and touched the bracer, "I notice you have one for each forearm. How heavy is each one?"  
"Who knows?" Ranma shrugged, "I don't keep track of how heavy these things are. I got so used to wearing them and them constantly getting heavier with every passing day, I lost track,"  
Naruto asked, "So what happens to you if you take those bracers off?"  
"Taking 'em off means I can take over the world much easier," Ranma grinned.  
"C'mon, be serious," Naruto said.  
"Nothing much," Ranma said, "It doesn't increase my actual power or anything. It just makes me faster,"  
"How fast?" Naruto asked.  
"Very fast," Ranma said, "If I wanted to, I can move faster that you can see me while wearing bracers. Think of how fast I'll be able to move without 'em,"  
Naruto said, "You hafta show me how powerful you are one of these days. I know you're strong and all, but I'd like to know just how strong,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Sure, maybe one of these days, but not now,"  
"Yeah," Naruto said, "After I learn how to shoot ki-blasts, then perhaps you can show me,"  
Ranma said, "I don't think so. What makes you think I'm gonna show you how to shoot ki-blasts?"  
"What?" Naruto asked, "But I've only got a week to learn how to do it or I'm gonna lose all my money,"  
"So," Ranma said, "That doesn't concern me. What you need to concentrate on is improving your reflexes and speed, not shooting ki-blasts. That can come later. Just cut your loses and continue with your training as usual,"  
Naruto said, "No! I want to learn how to shoot ki-blasts. I hafta,"  
"Why?" Ranma asked, "What's so important about proving yourself to Tsunade? You need to improve your reflexes and speed first. That's why you're gonna be wearing the weighted vest, so you can wear it while practicing to dodge rocks,"  
"Wait, you're not even gonna help me train to shoot ki-blasts?" Naruto asked in surprised, "You have no intention of showing me?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. This form of training is more important,"  
Naruto took off the weighted vest. It fell to the ground with a loud thud.  
"No it isn't!" Naruto shouted, "I made a promise!"  
"You did, didn't ya?" Ranma asked.  
"Yeah!" Naruto said.  
Ranma sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.  
Why did Naruto have to make a promise? If he had not promised, Ranma would have no qualms about telling Naruto that he could forget about the wager He walked over and picked up the weighted vest and held it out for Naruto.  
"Put the vest back on. We'll work training you how to shoot ki-blasts and improve your speed and reflexes,"  
Naruto smiled happily, like he had won a much needed battle. He took the vest and put it on. His happiness disappeared when he realized how much the vest weighed once again and how insanely restricting it was.  
"What do you intend to do to help me with both ki-blasts as well as my speed and reflex?" Naruto asked curiously, adjusting at the vest, unused to the weight.  
Ranma shrugged.  
"I'll think of something,"

new stuff 1/1

Naruto nervously watched as Ranma slowly circled him. The two of them were alone just outside the village, in a wide open area among the forest that surrounded the village. Ranma had decided to change Naruto's training to nothing but sparring. He and Naruto would be sparring while Naruto wore the weighted vest.  
"I can barely even move in this vest!" Naruto said, pivoting around so that he was constantly facing Ranma, "And how the heck am I supposed to fight against you, let alone without weapons?"  
That had been another aspect about his training that had shocked Naruto. Ranma had vehemently told him he was no allowed to use weapons and that they would be doing nothing but hand-to-hand combat.  
"We need to get you used to your body," Ranma said, still circling, "Your body doesn't move like you want it to. You learn stuff really quickly so that means you have a sharp mind. Unfortunately, your body isn't strong enough to move like your body wants it,"  
Naruto asked, "What does that hafta do with not being able to use weapons?"  
"Weapons are an extension of yourself," Ranma said, "Relying on weapons isn't good because you get used to having that extra extension to yourself. When you no longer have weapons around to use, you're going to handicap. Not using weapons is kinda like handicapping yourself so when you can use weapons, it's an advantage given to you. If you get used to weapons and then not use weapons, it's considered a handicap,"  
Naruto said, "I dunno what that means, but okay, if you say so. But why sparring?"  
"Making you fight against an opponent basically overwhelmingly more powerful than you will force you to grow as a fighter or die trying," Ranma said.  
"What kinda training is this? You're going to try and kill me?" Naruto shouted, "I never agreed to this kinda training!"  
Ranma chuckled, "That's just figuratively saying. I'll hold back a lot, but don't expect it to be easy even if I do hold back. The match ends if you land a single blow on me, whatever kinda blow, or if I knock you out, or if the fight would've ended with you losing utterly,"  
Naruto gulped. He then smirked, "One blow on you, huh? I think I can manage that,"  
"Heh, you've never seen me fight before," Ranma grinned.  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Let's begin," Ranma said.  
"Um, okay," Naruto lied.  
Ranma dashed forward with such speed that it surprised how someone could take accelerate themselves into a full sprint in just a single step. The ground behind him kicked up from the force of Ranma's feet as they pushed down on it.  
Naruto found himself barely able to see Ranma as he came charging toward him but believed that that was because Ranma was going easy and was allowing himself to be seen.  
Momentarily panicking at Ranma's speed as he ran straight toward him, Naruto kicked a leg out straight toward Ranma. Before he realized what had happened, Naruto's leg was seized by one of Ranma's arms as Ranma stepped forward and placed one of his own legs behind Naruto's standing leg, executing a perfect reaping throw. He shoved Naruto forward, causing the young boy to trip backwards over Ranma's one leg and land flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him. It had all happened in a fraction of a second that Naruto didn't even know what happened. All he remembered was attempting to kick at Ranma and then suddenly finding himself on the ground.  
"Oof," Naruto said, as all the air left his lungs from the impact.  
He found himself looking just as he saw a fist coming straight down toward his face. All that he had been able to do was panic at the world of hurt that would come if he got struck in the face and closed his eyes instinctively.  
When he felt nothing hit him, he gingerly opened his eyes where he saw Ranma standing right over him, a smirk on his face.  
Ranma had never punched him but had he actually followed through with his punch, the match would've ended with Naruto's own death.  
He smirked.  
"Heh, you lost,"

"You're getting the hang of this," Ranma said, "I'm impressed at how quickly you're picking everything up,"  
Naruto and Ranma were walking down the street of the village. They had been sparring for a several hours before Ranma called it quits and said it was time to eat. It was late in the evening and well past dinnertime for most people.  
Naruto found himself having trouble keeping up. His legs were killing him as they tried to support the heavy load that weighted vest had on his body.  
"I didn't so much as land a single blow on you," Naruto said with a sigh, "And it's even more frustrating that you beat me with the same reaping throw every single time. Even when I KNEW you were going to use that move against me, I couldn't do anything,"  
Ranma said, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. You're already starting to get used to the vest,"  
"I am?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, now that we're on break to get something to eat, I can tell you about how you're progressing along with your training,"  
"I'm progressing?" Naruto asked, "How the heck do you suppose that? I didn't hit you or even come close to hitting you,"  
"It's not a matter of you hitting me," Ranma said, "That's not the point in the training. The point of the training is to bring out your potential, which it already is,"  
"How?" Naruto scratched his head.  
Ranma said, "On the very first match, you tried to kick at me and even managed to raise your leg. In the heat of battle, your body had already forgotten you were wearing a weighted vest. You should not have been able to lift your leg high enough to kick at me but you did,"  
Naruto thought about it, "I kicked at you? I don't remember,"  
"Don't worry, I remember," Ranma smiled, "And you did do that,"  
"Wow," Naruto said, impressed with himself. If Ranma was impressed with him, then so should he himself.  
"Keep in mind this training isn't about making you a better fighter," Ranma said, "The object of your training isn't to teach you how to fight. It's teaching your body how to move faster than it's ever moved before as well as sharpen your reflexes,"  
Naruto muttered, "I don't feel myself moving any better now than before. Actually, I know I'm moving slower than when I first started because I'm so tired,"  
"Which brings up another thing I noticed," Ranma said, "You've got really good stamina to be able to keep going like that. It's a miracle in and of itself that you're actually still walking under your own power while wearing the vest. I figure you would've exhausted yourself long before now and I would be carrying you to the village and calling it a day for your training,"  
Naruto smiled.  
Ranma smiled back. He knew that Naruto really liked praise. Praise made Naruto improve much faster than not praising him. Sure, while a person should never rely on receiving praise from others to further themselves, Naruto seemed like he needed it. Ranma also knew why. It was attributed to the fact that Naruto never grew up without parents so he was never used to receiving praise for whatever he did. That was why he liked praise so much, because it was something he never received while young. "You think you can impress me again?" Ranma smirked, "You think you can go another couple of hours after we eat?"  
Naruto smirked, throwing an arm up in the air, "Yeah!"  
Ranma chuckled as he messed up Naruto's hair.  
"All right. That's the way to think,"

Ranma paused in front of a ramen restaurant they had decided to eat at. He looked backwards and toward the rooftops.  
"Something the matter?" Naruto asked, looking around, wondering what had caught Ranma's attention.  
Ranma said, "Itachi and Kisame are in this village,"  
"What?" Naruto's eyes widened, "You mean those two guys that tried to grab me the other day?"  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "It seems like they're on the lookout for you. I guess they somehow found out we're here in this village," Naruto said nothing for a moment, "Why?"  
"They're most likely looking for an opportunity to grab you," Ranma smirked.  
Naruto's lips became a thin line with worry. He had no idea who Itachi or Kisame were or what they wanted with him, but he knew strong opponents when he encountered them. That Kisame person gave off a strong aura like that of Kakashi, as if they were fighters equal in strength. While he had no idea how strong Itachi was, he believed Itachi was a very strong individual because that Itachi person did something to Ranma that even cause Ranma to fall down to one knee.  
"What did Itachi do to you that night?" Naruto asked, "What was that technique I heard him call 'Tsukiyomi'?" "I really dunno," Ranma said, "It's some weird technique that kinda hypnotized me momentarily and made me think I was getting stabbed by katanas for three days. He actually used it twice on me,"  
"I guess it didn't work since you seem perfectly fine," Naruto smiled.  
Ranma shrugged.  
The technique had had an effect on him but he had no intention of letting it be known. It had stunned him long enough initially that he could have been killed had Itachi not made the mistake of not killing him off right then and there. No technique used against him had ever caught him so off-guard than that Tsukiyomi technique. Not even Ryoga using a Mouko Takabisha, Ranma's own ki-  
blast, against him had caught him that off-guard. "Don't worry about it," Ranma said, "So long as we hang together, you've got nothing to worry about. I can handle the both of them so long as I don't hafta worry about you running off and getting caught and such,"  
Naruto said nothing. He had no intention of running away from his training. As painful as it was, he knew that it was benefiting him in somewhat. Perhaps Ranma saw the improvement more than he himself could.  
"How can you tell where Itachi and Kisame are?" Naruto asked.  
"I can sense them," Ranma said, "They give off a really strong aura and it's really easy to pick up on them. They don't realize that I can detect them because of it. It's probably because no one else around here can detect auras like I can so they figure that I can't as well,"  
"How far away are they?" Naruto asked.  
"Several blocks away," Ranma said, "They don't seem to be aware of where we are. That's a good thing,"  
"If you know where they are and they don't know where we are, let's use the element of surprise," Naruto suggested, "We can surprise them and beat them up and tell them to leave us alone,"  
"'We'?" Ranma grinned.  
"I mean 'You'," Naruto muttered, "Y'know what I mean,"  
Ranma said, "I can do that. However, I don't wanna go and assume that they're here for that. Maybe they have given up and just happen to be here by coincidence. I simply made a guess that they might to here to look for you. For all we know, they gave up and just wanna live their life in peace,"  
Naruto didn't seem convinced.  
"Just leave them alone," Ranma said, "If they leave you alone, you leave them alone,"  
"But if you leave them alone, that could give them the opportunity to do something bad," Naruto said, "It's better to stop something bad from happening if you can prevent it,"  
Ranma said, "Well, you have a point there, but still, it's not right to assume that they're up to no good,"  
"Hmph!" Naruto muttered.  
"You have nothing to worry about anyway," Ranma said, "You're with me and I can take care of 'em. Also, I'm training you specifically to deal with people like that. Before long, you won't need me protecting you,"  
Naruto said, "So, what does that mean, that you'll be leaving?"  
"Of course," Ranma said.  
Naruto said nothing, sad to hear that.

Ranma carried Naruto into over his shoulder as walked up to the desk of a hotel. After eating, Ranma and Naruto went back to their training grounds, the open area just outside the village, and got back to sparring for a few more hours until Ranma had finally decided to call it a day.  
It was well past midnight and the two needed rest, at least Naruto did.  
Naruto was asleep because he had pushed himself beyond exhaustion that his body finally gave out on him and he fell into a deep sleep before they made it back to the village. Ranma had decided to carry him since it was no trouble.  
"I'd like a room," Ranma said to the man behind the counter, placing down several coins. The man regarded Naruto as he was slung over Ranma's shoulder.  
"He's my, um, little brother and we've had a rough day training. Guess who had it rougher than the other," Ranma said, figuring that was an adequate enough lie.  
"Ah," the man said, accustomed to receiving people weary from long hard days of training, "It looked odd why you were carrying the young boy like that,"  
Ranma shrugged.  
At that moment, the door behind Ranma opened and in entered Tsunade and Shizune.  
"This seems like a good place to stay for the night," he overheard Tsunade saying to her companion.  
"Thank goodness," Shizune yawned, "I'm beat and can't wait to get some sleep, "Thank goodness for that Ranma person, we can stay at a nice place,"  
"You're welcome," Ranma smirked.  
"Ranma!" Tsunade and Shizune were surprised to see him there, "What are you doing here?"  
"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he said toward both girls, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, "We're here to get ourselves a room. Naruto here's pooped from his training and needs rest,"  
Tsunade regarded Naruto's unconscious form. She smiled slightly, "It seems like he's been hard at training, huh?"  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "This kid surprises the hell outta me actually. He's learning really quickly. Dunno if he'll get good enough to win the bet, but I don't really care. There's other things more important than winning some kinda bet,"  
Afterall, getting Naruto strong enough to defend himself against people like Itachi and Kisame was top priority. Otherwise, the kid was as good as dead.  
Ranma smiled at Tsunade, wondering what kind of surprised look would be on her face if she saw how much stronger Naruto would be by the end of the week. While Naruto would most likely not be shooting ki-blasts, far from it, he would be able to display a vast improvement over what she last remembered him.  
"My face is up here," Tsunade said in annoyance, pointing toward her eyes. "Heh, sorry," Ranma blushed as he realized he had been staring down at her chest area. Because Tsunade was very well-endowed and Ranma was a man, his gaze was naturally drawn toward that area of Tsunade's chest.  
Shizune let out an annoyed breath. While not flat-chested, she couldn't help but feel jealous of the attention Tsunade gets from guys. It must be nice to get that kind of attention from time to time. Life isn't always about training to be the best ninja that ever existed and such.  
Tsunade regarded Ranma with narrowed eyes, "I'll let it slide this time,"  
She then realized Ranma wasn't looking at her again.  
"You're doing it again!" Tsunade said angrily.  
Ranma looked back up at Tsunade's face, "Um, sorry,"  
He cleared his throat as he turned around to face the man behind the counter.  
Ranma asked, "Anyway, we'd like a room,"  
"You mean for the four of you?" the man asked.  
"Huh?" Ranma asked.  
"It seems like you all know each other," the man said, "Would you like to rent out a bedroom for four?"  
Ranma said, "No. A bedroom for two is fine,"  
The man turned around and grabbed a key from a key holder, accepting the money Ranma had handed forth to him, "Here you go. I hope you enjoy your stay. Your room is the fourth door on your right at the top of the stairs,"  
"Thanks," Ranma said.  
He gave the girls a courteous nod and a warm smile as he headed for the stairs.

Ranma placed Naruto down on one of the two beds that was found in the hotel room. The boy didn't stir, continuing to sleep soundly. He couldn't help but be impressed at how Naruto was simply sleeping and not unconscious from having sparred too much.  
After he placed some blankets over Naruto, Ranma headed for the door. "Where are you going?" came a yawn, "Where are we?"  
Ranma turned toward Naruto and could see that he was sleepy but alert.  
"I'm going to the hot spring," Ranma answered, "We're at a hotel back near the middle of town. I found out that this hotel had its own hot spring and I'm gonna go take a dip. Even though I don't look it, I'm also tired and need something to

help me relax,"  
Naruto asked, "Are you sure you're not going to just leave me like you did then?"  
"Nah, I'll hang around this time around," Ranma said with a warm smile, "I just wanna go do some stuff on my own. You're tired and you need some sleep,"  
Naruto didn't seem to argue as he close his eyes, "Okay. But just don't leave me,"  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, noticing that Naruto seemed to be a bit clingy, "I'll be around. I'm gonna be downstairs. There door to the spring is at the bottom of the stairs. If you really wanna reach me, you can find me there,"  
"How long're you gonna be gone?" he asked sleepily.  
"Not long," Ranma smiled, "Just go get some sleep,"  
"Okay," Naruto said as he closed his eyes and promptly went to sleep.  
Ranma headed out of the hotel room and closed the light behind him.  
He almost bumped into Tsunade and Shizune as they walked down the hallway.  
"You following me or something?" Ranma smirked.  
"Don't flatter yourself," Tsunade said, annoyed.  
"We were on our way down to the hot spring," Shizune added. Although it looked as if Tsunade didn't really like Ranma, the fact that she didn't kill him meant that she tolerated him. A no-nonsense woman, Tsunade didn't care for jokes and such and it showed.  
"Same here," Ranma said, smirking, "Hey, maybe we might get lucky and it'll be a mixed bath, if y'know what I mean,"  
Neither Shizune nor Tsunade seemed amused by that joke.  
"You girls need a sense of humor," Ranma stated, his eyes wandering again.  
"We're fine the way we are," Tsunade stated for both her and Shizune, "Okay, that's the last time. If you stare at my breasts one more time, I'm going to hit you,"  
"Sorry," Ranma said with meek smile.  
"How goes the training with Naruto?" Shizune asked curiously.  
"It's going fine," he answered, "He learns really quickly,"  
"What kind of training is he undergoing?" she asked, "We saw you and him walking down the street earlier today. He was wearing some kind of weird-looking vest. Did that have anything to do with it?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. It's a weighted vest. It'll help improve his speed for when he does take it off. The only training I'm giving him is that he and I are sparring against one another,"  
"That's a rather unorthodox training method," Tsunade stated, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I done this before. It's really effective. You don't see the results until after you remove the vest,"  
"I remember Naruto called that technique the Mouko Takabisha," Tsunade stated, "Exactly what is it?"  
"A ki-blast," Ranma said.  
"Ki-blast? What's that?" she asked.  
"A super powerful blast of 'chakra'," Ranma said, "I don't call it chakra as everyone around here calls it. I call it ki. Anyway, get it powerful enough and it can easily destroy a mountain. "  
Shizune and Tsunade looked at one another.  
"How do you expect someone like that do that?" Tsunade asked, "I've been around for a long time and I've never seen or heard of a technique like that, shooting chakra capable of destroying mountains. With something like that, you would burn yourself out expending the chakra capable of doing that,"  
Ranma said, "You've got a point there. That's why I'm showing him how to absorb ki from his surroundings. That way, he will have an unlimited supply of ki,"  
"An unlimited supply of chakra? That's preposterous," Tsunade laughed.  
"That's the same thing Naruto said to me," Ranma said, "Now he realizes that it's very much possible,"  
"Can you show me a demonstration?" Tsunade asked, "I'd like to see exactly how one goes about creating this ki-blast as you put it,"  
"You already saw some of it," Ranma said, "You saw it when Naruto formed it in his hands. The only difference is that the real thing is probably a thousand times more powerful,"  
The girls said nothing.  
Ranma added, "Besides, I don't wanna show you because that would draw attention to me and I don't want that since there are people out trying to kill Naruto,"  
"What?" Tsunade said, "Someone's trying to kill Naruto? Who? Why?"  
"Why are you all concerned all of a sudden?" Ranma asked, "You barely know the kid,"  
Shizune said, "Naruto looks like her dead brother,"  
Tsunade glared at Shizune which made her nervous. However, because it was already out there, all because of Shizune's big mouth, Tsunade realized that there was no way she can take it back.  
"Your brother, huh?" Ranma asked, "I figured it'd be something like that,"  
"What?" Tsunade asked, "What makes you figure something like that?"  
Ranma said, "You're kinda easy to read. I noticed you looking at Naruto like you recognized him when we entered the restaurant and met you. If you've never met him, then there should be no reason why it looks like you recognize him. I assumed it was because he reminded you of someone. Now I know that it's because he reminds you of your brother,"  
"You're really observant," Tsunade said.  
Ranma smiled, "Thanks,"  
"So, who's this person after him?" she asked curiously.  
"Some dude named Uchiha Itachi," Ranma said.  
Tsunade's lips became a thin line.  
"I take it you know who he is?" Ranma asked.  
"He's a dangerous man," she stated, "He's considered an S-Class criminal. He's very very strong. You know what he wants with Naruto?"  
Ranma said, "It's not my place to say," He didn't want to reveal Naruto's past. Perhaps it was sensitive to Naruto and Naruto didn't want people knowing about him and that he had the Nine-Tails sealed within him.  
"Does it have to do with the Nine-Tails?" she asked. Ranma's surprised look at the comment made her realize it was just that. She said, "I figured it would be something about that,"  
Ranma said, "Well, since it seems like you're aware of that, I might as well tell you. It seems like Itachi is interested in harnessing the ki of the Nine-  
Tails demon that had been sealed within Naruto for his own personal use. Unfortunately, if that were to happen, Naruto will die because the process of doing so will kill him,"  
"How do you know this?" she asked.  
"I just do," he said, "It's not really important how or why I know. The important thing is that Naruto's life is in danger and I'm gonna try and protect him,"  
"How come you're helping him?" Shizune asked curiously.  
Ranma smirked, "Cause I'm not an asshole,"  
The comment seemed rather weird to both girls but they took it as a given.  
"What do you know about Naruto?" Tsunade asked.  
"Nothing much," Ranma said, "Frankly, I don't care. He's a good kid and that's all that matters. All I know is that he's got this Nine-Tails demon sealed within him. As to how or why, I don't really care. I know there's something special about him. Perhaps it's because of the Nine-Tails demon hidden within,

but I don't really care. He needs someone watching over him for now and I volunteered to do the job," Tsunade smiled, "That's awfully kind of you,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Hey, I do what I can when I can,"  
The three of them headed down the stairs and looked at the entrance to the hot spring. The sign on the entrance said 'Men/Women' on it.  
Ranma's eyes lit up.  
"Wow, this hotel has a mixed hot spring," Ranma laughed, placing an arm around both Shizune's and Tsunade's shoulders, "You know what that means? Guys and girls will be sharing the same hot spring,"  
He smiled happily, "Man, I'm looking forward to seeing what you two girls look like naked,"  
Both girls turned toward Ranma.  
"We don't think so!"

Ranma muttered under his breath as he entered his hotel room.  
He was surprised to see Naruto was up and about, on his way toward the door as he was coming in.  
"You're back," Naruto said.  
"Where are you going?" Ranma asked.  
"I was about to go to the hot spring," Naruto said.  
Ranma regarded him for a moment. It made Ranma wonder if Naruto forced himself awake just to hang around him to make sure Ranma didn't try and leave at night like he had tried last time.  
"It's no use," Ranma said, walking over to the bed and lying down on it.  
"Why not?" Naruto asked.  
"It's a mixed bath," Ranma said, "Let's just say two girls didn't appreciate that fact and told me that it was strictly an 'All-Female' spring until they were done. What a gyp,"  
Naruto said, "What, you're going to let some girls walk all over you?"  
Ranma said, "Yeah, I am. I don't wanna die,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma's eyes lit up.  
"Hey, you wanna under go a new form of training?" Ranma grinned.  
"Sure," Naruto asked, suddenly energetic, "What is it?"  
"I want you to steal Tsunade's and Shizune's panties," Ranma said. "What?"

"Ranma's such a pervert," Naruto muttered under his breath as Ranma shoved him through the door and into the changing room.  
Looking around, Naruto noticed that the changing room was empty. It was expected since it was early in the morning and it was highly unlikely that anyone would be using the hot spring.  
He noticed a couple of small baskets near the corner of the room.  
Walking over there, he thought about what Ranma had told him.  
"If you find out what kinda panties they wear, we can tell what makes 'em tick," Ranma said, "I've read a in a magazine somewhere that you can tell what kinda personality a girl has based on the kinda panties they wear,"  
"Are you sure it was a magazine that you read?" Naruto had asked sarcastically, "Are you sure what you read wasn't 'nothing'?"  
"Ha ha, just do it," Ranma had said.  
"How's this gonna help with my training?" Naruto asked.  
"It's to teach you stealth while wearing that weighted vest," Ranma said glibly.  
Naruto said nothing, believing Ranma had just come up with that right on the spot.  
"C'mon, be a man," Ranma added, "Men do this all the time,"  
"I'm not a man," Naruto retorted, "I'm a boy,"  
"So? Dontcha wanna be a man?" Ranma smirked.  
"Not if it means having to do something like this," Naruto answered back.  
Ranma found himself losing this argument.  
"Okay, if you do this, I'll let you shoot a real ki-blast for your very first time," Ranma said.  
"What? You will? You can?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said. He didn't want to take the girls' panties because he was a pervert. He just wanted to take them out of spite. If he can't take a dip in the hot spring because they didn't want him to even though he had every right to it as they did, then he would just get back at them by taking their panties so that they would realize Ranma isn't the kind of person they could easily walked all over.  
"Why am I even doing this?" Naruto muttered under his breath.  
Peeking into the basket, Naruto found two pairs of panties rolled up, like it had been precariously removed and thrown into the basket.  
"Ranma's more perverted than Jiraiya," Naruto muttered, "At least he just looks. Ranma actually goes far and beyond that and wants me to steal for him,"  
"What are you doing?" came a voice.  
Naruto whirled around toward the voice and found himself looking up at Tsunade and Shizune. Both girls had towels wrapped around their torso and had angered look on their faces.  
"Well?" Tsunade asked, her hands on her hips.  
"Hey, what are you doing with our panties?" Shizune noticed what Naruto was holding in his hands.  
She quickly swiped the panties from Naruto's hands.  
"Um, er," Naruto said, "Ranma-niisan made me do it,"  
"Why?" Tsunade asked, trying to keep composed.  
"He says it's part of my training," Naruto answered.  
One of Tsunade's eyes twitched. What the heck was Ranma doing, corrupting Naruto like that? Naruto was a young and impressionable child. Ranma should not be teaching him perverted things like that.  
The door to the changing room opened as Ranma's head peeked in, "C'mon, what's taking you so long. Just grab 'em before Tsunade or Shizune get outta the spring," When he realized that both girls were in the changing room, the color drained from his face, "Oh shit,"  
"Ranma!" Tsunade looked really angry. This was far worse than when he had been caught several times staring at her chest.  
"Run!" Ranma shouted toward Naruto.  
Naruto, seeing Ranma make a break for it, quickly ran away before either of the two girls realized what was going on.  
Naruto could be heard shouting as he ran away with Ranma.  
"What kind of insane training is this?" "Open up! We know you're in there!" came some banging on the door to their hotel room, "If you don't open this door, I'm going to bust right through it!"  
Naruto quickly grabbed at his weapons and put them away. While he didn't use his weapons in training, he still kept them on his person. His weapons consisted nothing more than stars and shurikens. There were many of them which made it hard to pack quickly since those weapons were sharp and he could hurt himself if he precariously jammed a throwing star in one of his pockets.  
"We're making a break for it," Ranma said in a worried voice, "Just quickly pack your stuff and let's get outta here,"  
"Just explain to them," Naruto said, "They'll understand and forgive you,"  
"Are you nuts?" Ranma said, "Damn, you really are a child, aren't ya? No girl is gonna forgive us for what we've done,"  
"Why did you make me do this?" Naruto muttered, almost finished putting his weapons away.  
"Because, I'm an asshole," was the best Ranma could come up with, "And what sucks about this situation is that I'm in deep shit and you still haven't managed to get the panties like I had asked,"  
"Hey, Shizune grabbed 'em from me before I could get away," Naruto said.  
Naruto was finished with packing and quickly headed for the window. He glanced toward Ranma and noticed he was getting undressed.  
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.  
"Giving us a head start," Ranma said, taking off his shirt and proceeding to take off his pants, "Just climb outta the window and meet me down in the street. I'll be with you in a sec,"  
"Okay," Naruto said, doing as he was told.  
Damn, Naruto has already gotten used to the weighted vest, Ranma thought as he saw Naruto climb out of the window rather quickly and jump out. Stripping completely naked, Ranma turned toward the door, just as Tsunade and Tsunade, both fully dressed, busted through the door, knocking it off its hinges. While Tsunade could have easily kicked the door in, she didn't want to cause unnecessary collateral damage unless it was needed.  
Both girls came barreling into the room, fuming mad. They came to a sliding halt when they found themselves looking at a very naked Ranma.  
"What the?" Tsunade said, shocked at what she was seeing.  
"Eeeeek!" Ranma shouted, bringing his hands down to cover his private area, "Perverts! Get out!"  
Tsunade and Shizune instinctively took a few steps back. Tsunade, while an old woman in a young woman's body, would not get embarrassed by seeing a naked man, had been so caught off-guard that she couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Also, Ranma's performance seemed truly genuine, like he was embarrassed beyond belief and it was all her fault.  
"Wait, hold up!" Tsunade said, "We're not perverts!"  
"Close the door!" Ranma shouted as if mortified at having been seen naked.  
Tsunade quickly picked up the door and placed it back on its hinges, taking care to close the door behind her as she and Shizune quickly left the room. Ranma, realizing that that should give him a few minutes before the girls realized they had been duped, quickly put his clothes back on and headed for the door.  
He leapt down to the street below where Naruto was waiting for him.  
"C'mon, let's get outta here," he told the boy.  
"How'd you get rid of them?" Naruto asked.  
"You don't wanna know," Ranma chuckled The two of them ran off into the night.

"I think we've been fooled," Shizune commented.  
Tsunade's jaw muscles were tight, "I know. I think so, too,"  
Both girls had been standing in front of the door to Ranma's room for the past three minutes. Tsunade sneered as she kicked down the door to Ranma's hotel room, very sure that the room would be empty.  
Entering the room, she realized that it was indeed empty.  
"I'm going to kill that guy!" Tsunade sneered. She had grown to tolerate Ranma, finding him mildly amusing because of how perceptive he was, and then he go and do something like that, something she detested in guys.  
Shizune said, "There's no need to go off the deep handle, Tsunade-sama,"  
"And just why not?" Tsunade asked.  
Shizune blushed slightly, "Don't you find it a bit flattering?"  
"What?" Tsunade asked, "What the heck are you talking about? Ranma just sent Naruto to steal our panties claiming it was part of his training!"  
Shizune nodded, "Well, yes, that does seem wrong. But still, don't you find it flattering that Ranma seems to have an interest in us that he would go so far as to do that? Doesn't that make you feel kind of sexy that a guy would go through such lengths to do that?"  
Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose.  
"You've got to be kidding me,"

Naruto rubbed at his lower back as he woke up after a rather hard night's sleep. After the panty incident, he and Ranma ended up leaving the village and setting up a camp right by where their training grounds were.  
Looking around, he saw Ranma a short distance facing an opponent that looked exactly like him. It didn't take long for Naruto to realize Ranma had used that Kage Bunshin no Jutsu Revised technique to create an exact version of himself as a sparring partner.  
Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit hurt that Ranma did that. It was as if Ranma found Naruto and unworthy sparring partner that he needed someone like his exact replicate to compete against him.  
Both Ranma looked pretty beat and were bleeding from various cuts on their faces. Their knuckles were both bloody from having punched each other so much.  
"Morning," both Ranma said in unison when they noticed Naruto was up.  
"Um, morning," Naruto said, stretching a bit, "Who's winning?"  
"I am," both Ranma said in unison. They then turned toward one another, "You are? Get the hell outta here! I'm the one that's winning!"  
Naruto chuckled. It seemed like neither of them could tell who was winning. They were so equal in skill that neither of them had an advantage over the other. Sure, the clone was immune to ki-blasts, but with their current match, ki-blasts weren't permitted. All they could do is use conventional attacks like punches and kicks. He watched as both Ranma taunted one another, each one claiming they were better than the other. They acted so much alike that Ranma could not tell which one was real and which was the clone. This made Naruto wonder about something. If Ranma's Kage Bunshin no Jutsu Revised technique was so impressive, could there be a chance that the clone Ranma would go on living even after the real Ranma was killed? Afterall, the clone didn't disappear even if the real Ranma was struck. The clone didn't disappear if the clone was hit as well.  
"You guys look like you beat the crap outta one another," Naruto stated, noticing all those cuts and bruises on each of them. The cuts were not on exactly locations as the other but there seemed to be an equal amount of cuts everywhere.  
"Yeah, facing against someone like myself, the only way I can land blows is to hit-trade," both Ranma said. They turned toward one another, "Hey, I was talking! He was talking to me!"  
"Hit-trade?" Naruto asked.  
"It's the only way we can hit each other," both Ranma said, "We attack each other and accept a blow so we could give one back in exchange. It's usually very useful because we can take a lot of punishment and can usually dish back more punishment than we receive. However, with our opponents, each trade is equal,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
Both Ranma dash toward one another. They both threw out devastatingly powerful right punches toward each other's faces. Instinctively, the dodged out of the way as if they were mirror images of one another, throwing out left punches as counter attacks and hitting each other in the nose with equal strength.  
Both punches struck true as Ranma staggered backwards and fell down to one knee, covering their respective faces.  
"Goddamn that hurts!" both Ranma said.  
"Let's quit," one Ranma said, rubbing at his nose as he got to his feet, "I can't go on anymore,"  
"Bwahahahaha! I win! You wanna quit before I do!" the other Ranma started laughing, blood dripping out of his mouth as he did so. "Get real, I know you wanna quit every bit as I do," the first one stated, "You ain't fooling me,"  
"Yeah," the other one said, "You're right. I wanna quit too,"  
"All right, let's call it quits," the first one said, "It's a draw,"  
"You'll hear no complaints from me," the second one said.  
Naruto watched as the second Ranma held his hands up and simply vanished right before his very eyes. This shocked him because he had figured the first Ranma was the clone because he had said he wanted to quit first. He figured the clone would give up before the real one did.  
He watched as the first Ranma held his hand out and watched in disbelief as the ki from the disappearing Ranma seemed to flow right into him, as if that Ranma absorbed him in.  
"W-what the hell was that?" Naruto gasped.  
Ranma smirked, "It's another aspect to the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu Revised technique. I learned that I can take in the ki my clone releases and actually take in all his memories and experiences,"  
"What? You can!" Naruto said in shock.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "It's pretty cool. I learn at twice the speed this way. Not only do I fight an equal opponent to myself, but I learn from both the mistakes my clone makes as well as myself. In a sense, what I just did feels like I fought two battles against an opponent just as strong as myself instead of just one battle. That's because I basically remember the battle from both perspective,"  
Naruto said nothing, shocked.  
"Pretty cool, huh?" Ranma said.  
"Of course," Naruto agreed.

"There is one problem though," Ranma said, "I noticed that fighting against myself is not all that great. Fighting an exact replica of yourself isn't as great as it seems. There is no variety in the fight. It's the randomness of not knowing exactly what your opponent's gonna do that makes the fight exciting. Because it isn't the case for this, the fight isn't all that exciting,"  
Naruto scratched his head, "It seems rather exciting from my point of view,"  
Ranma shook his head, "Not from my point of view. This is probably the last time I'm gonna spar against myself. The novelty of fighting against myself has already worn off,"  
Besides, Ranma would rather fight against someone like Ryoga. On any given day, Ryoga could beat him as well as he Ryoga. That was way back then though. Of course, now, if he fought Ryoga, Ranma would get his butt handed to him.  
"C'mon, now that you're awake, let's go head into town and find ourselves something to eat," Ranma said, "I'm getting hungry,"  
"Aren't you worried about bumping into Tsunade and Shizune?" Naruto asked.  
"Kinda but that ain't gonna stop me," Ranma grinned.  
"Let's not eat," Naruto said.  
"Huh? Ranma asked, "You don't wanna eat?"  
"No, I wanna train," Naruto said.  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a bit and noticed the eagerness on Naruto's countenance. It seemed like the only thing on his mind was his training. Ranma liked seeing that enthusiasm.  
Ranma smiled warmly.  
"Okay. We can hold off on eating until lunchtime,"

"Hey, when are you going to let me shoot a ki-blast?"  
Ranma said, "What are you talking about? I'm already training you toward it. It's a slow and tedious process and it takes time,"  
"No," Naruto said, "I mean actually letting me shoot one. You said you would let me shoot one. You said it last night,"  
"I did?" Ranma asked.  
"Yeah, you did," Naruto said, "You said you would let me shoot one if tried to steal their panties and I did,"  
Ranma smirked, "But you never got 'em. In a sense, you never upheld your end of the deal,"  
"You said if I tried," Naruto said, "It doesn't mean I hafta actually get 'em so long as I tried,"  
Ranma said, "I guess you're right,"  
"So you're gonna show me?" Naruto asked, excited.  
"Sure," he said.  
"Awesome, what do I do?" Naruto asked.  
"What I'm gonna do is actually bypass your need to draw in ki," Ranma said, "Instead of waiting around for you to draw in ki on your own, I'm gonna draw in ki for you and give it to you,"  
Naruto's eyes widened in excitement, "Really? Wow, I can't wait!"  
"First off, I need to explain some things to ya," Ranma said, "Because of your current level in your training, you don't possess the necessary ki reserve to release to create a ki-blast. You need to get practice at that to expand it. I can't help you there,"  
"I understand," Naruto said.  
"What I'm gonna be doing is giving you more ki than you body is supposed to hold," Ranma said, "Therefore, because of that, you are gonna feel like your body is gonna explode,"  
Naruto nodded, "I understand that. I start feeling that after around forty minutes of meditating like I told you before,"  
Ranma said, "It's kinda like that. That's how you feel when you reach your limit. Picture what you feel with that and multiply it be ten times. That's what you're going to feel,"  
Naruto said nothing. The feeling of his body exploding after forty minutes of meditating was enough to make him panic. If he had to experience tent times that feeling of panic, he might have a heart attack.  
"All you need to know is that you're gonna be all right," Ranma said in a reassuring voice, "You will feel very scared but you don't hafta worry about it because I'm gonna be right next to you. I'm actually gonna have my hand on your shoulder to give you ki. You can just think of my hand on your shoulder as a way of reassuring you that I'm right behind you,"  
"O-okay," Naruto said.  
"You're gonna feel like you're gonna explode," Ranma continued on, "The moment you feel like you can't experience the feeling anymore because you're gonna basically have some kinda heart attack, just hold your hand forward and just envision all that ki within you flowing out of your hands. The ki will flow out of you naturally and into a ki-blast,"  
"Okay," Naruto gulped, hoping he was ready, "Um, what if I have a heart attack from such an experience?  
Ranma shook his head, "Don't worry. You won't. Ki is a wondrous thing. Even if you ARE supposed to have one, the ki flowing through your body actually protects you from something like that,"  
"Oh," Naruto said.  
"You ready?" Ranma smirked.  
"Um, yes," Naruto said nervously.  
"Just close your eyes and clear your mind," Ranma said, "Keep your hands in front of you by your right hip in a cupped position. When you're ready to release all that ki that's been built up inside of you, bring your hands forward toward the sky and let it all out,"  
"Okay," the young boy said.  
Naruto did as he was told.  
Ranma placed a hand on Naruto shoulder. Instantly, a massive aura formed around the both of them and started glowing a brilliant bluish hue.  
In a fraction of a second, Naruto felt this massive surge of power enter his body. Over the span of one second, his body started feeling like it was about to explode, the same sensation that he was used to after forty minutes of meditating.  
Naruto started to feel a great sense of panic.  
"Don't worry, you're doing fine," Ranma's voice came with perfect timing, calming the young boy down slightly. It didn't last long as the feeling of panic started to grow larger and larger.  
"Right now, you're holding more than five times the amount of ki you body should be able to naturally hold," Ranma continued on, "Just a little bit more and you're ready,"  
After a few terrify seconds, Naruto felt his body starting to burn with power, as if ready to explode with such force it could take out an entire city.  
"You're ready," came Ranma's voice, "Let it all out,"  
Naruto didn't. He wanted to cling on longer and fight back the panic and continue absorbing as much as he could mentally hold. If this was what Ranma felt every time he shot a ki-blast, then this should be a cinch to experience.  
Ranma smirked as he noticed Naruto continued to cling on and fight back the feeling of panic.  
Oh, you wanna feel what REAL power is, huh, Ranma thought. All right, let's overload your body with ki.  
Ranma released as much ki as he could possible from his hand and into Naruto. Naruto tried to cling out and fight back the feeling of panic but was unable to as the feeling became exponential, feeling far worse and greater than ten times when he figured it would be.  
All of a sudden, Naruto, unable to fight back the feeling of panic, extended his hands forward.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto shouted.  
Ranma's eyes widened in shock as this massive ki-blast erupted from Naruto's hands. It was well over ten times in diameter the size of the ki-blasts Ranma normally used, like the ones he used against that monster Gaara had turned into.  
Ranma and Naruto watched in surprise as the massive ki-blast sailed up into sky where it disappeared into the clouds high above, creating a gaping hole in the ceiling of clouds.  
Several minutes passed by in silence as Naruto just stared up at the sky.  
Ranma had this very amused look on his face as he regarded Naruto.  
Naruto can easily become my successor, Ranma thought. To be able to do something like this, this means that Naruto gonna to many great things over the course of his life.  
"Wow! That was awesome!" Naruto started jumping up and down, impressing Ranma because he was still wearing a weighted vest, afterall, "That felt amazing! I can't believe that sensation of power I felt! It was incredible!"  
Ranma smiled.  
"That Mouko Takabisha was awesome!" Naruto said.  
"Actually, that wasn't a Mouko Takabisha," Ranma smiled.  
"What was it?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.  
"The Seppukku Mouko Takabisha," Ranma grinned.  
"The Seppukku Mouko Takabisha? What's that?" Naruto asked curiously.  
Ranma started laughing.  
"It's something that would really really hurt had you accidentally shot the ground with it,"

new stuff 1/2

Ranma and Naruto walked down the street together and on their way toward the village again.  
"I wanna stay and practice," Naruto said, "How come we can't practice shooting more ki-blasts?"  
"Because," Ranma smirked, "That ki-blast I'm sure everyone in the village saw,"  
"So?" Naruto asked, "What about it?"  
"If that's the case, that means Itachi and Kisame saw that also," Ranma answered, "They're not aware of our whereabouts but if we hang around, they'll find us and be able to follow us to wherever we go,"  
"Oh," Naruto said.  
Ranma grabbed Naruto as he quickly ducked into an alleyway.  
"Why're we in an alley?" Naruto asked, curiously.  
"Shh," Ranma said, putting a finger in front of his lips.  
A second later, Itachi and Kisame could be seen as they ran right by the alley, heading in the direction of where Ranma and Naruto had been last training.  
"That was-" Naruto said.  
"Itachi and Kisame," Ranma said, "Yeah. It seems like they're still after you,"  
Naruto said, "There goes your theory that they've learned their lesson and just moved on and happen to be in the same village as we are and not actually trying to find us. I wonder what you were thinking when you came up with that. If they wanna kidnap me, dontcha think it would be a lot harder to get them to give up?"  
Ranma smirked, "All right, I get the picture,"  
Naruto said, "You should go beat them up,"  
"No," Ranma said, "I'm not that kinda person,"  
"How are you not that kinda person?" Naruto asked, "You asked me to steal Tsunade's and Shizune's panties and passed it off as some form of training!"  
Ranma said, "Actually, it did help out as training. Didja see how fast you ran while wearing that weighted vest of yours?"  
Naruto said, "Nice try,"  
Ranma gave a meek smile, "Well, it did help, didn't it?"  
"Hmph!" Naruto wasn't one bit convinced but believed it wasn't worth arguing against Ranma.  
It seemed like Naruto wasn't as easily fooled as he figured. Constantly underestimating Naruto, Ranma always found himself pleasantly surprised when he found out more and more about Naruto.  
"C'mon, let's go get some food," Ranma said, stepping out of the alleyway.  
Naruto followed next to him, "Um, where are we gonna eat?"  
"Dunno?" Ranma said, "How about you decide?"  
"Ramen!" Naruto answered without hesitation.  
Ranma smirked, "You really like ramen, dontcha?"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. I love it,"  
"All right, fine, let's get some ramen,"

"Jiraiya!" Naruto said in surprise when he saw the white haired man sitting in one corner of the ramen restaurant.  
"Naruto!" Jiraiya looked up from his meal, a look of surprise on his face.  
Naruto and Ranma walked up to where Jiraiya's table was. "What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, jumping in the seat adjacent to Jiraiya's.  
"Mind if we sit here?" Ranma asked.  
"Sure," Jiraiya said, "By all means,"  
Naruto happily scooted over in his seat so that Ranma could sit next to him. Ranma sat down and motioned for the waitress' attention.  
Jiraiya smiled happily at Naruto, "I'm really glad I've finally found you. I figured I'd be bumping into you sooner or later,"  
"What makes you say that?" Naruto asked.  
"Well, I figured you were with Ranma and I found out Ranma intended to head east toward Hidden Mist Village," Jiraiya stated, "I figure that because you liked ramen so much, if I continued heading east and go to the ramen shops, we would eventually bump into one another. I'm glad I've found you. I've been looking all over for you,"  
Naruto asked, "Why?"  
"Well, I was looking around for you because we have a mission that only the two of us can accomplish," Jiraiya stated.  
"You mean to look for Tsunade?" Naruto asked curious.  
Jiraiya looked surprised, "Yeah, how'd you know? Wait, let me guess...Ranma,"  
Ranma smiled, "I figured it was that. I remember you mentioning about how you were going to go look for Tsunade and had a funny feeling you wanted Naruto to go along with you,"  
"If you knew that, then why did you take him with you?" Jiraiya asked, "I've been spending the past couple of days looking for him,"  
"These two people, Itachi and Kisame, are looking for him," Ranma said, "I couldn't leave him alone so I took him with me. I've been training him so that he can one day defend himself against him,"  
Jiraiya rubbed his chin, "Itachi, huh? So he's after Naruto?"  
"Don't worry, Ranma beat him up real good," Naruto said proudly, as if he himself had done the deed.  
Jiraiya regarded Ranma, "You dispatched Itachi? My, it seems like you're a lot stronger than I thought to be able to contend with someone like Itachi,"  
"I had the element of surprise," Ranma said, "Itachi is a strong person though,"  
The element of surprise Ranma had was when Itachi underestimated him and turned away from him momentarily, figuring he was no longer able to put up a fight after having suffered through the Tsukiyomi technique. That had left Ranma the window of opportunity to grab Itachi and lift him off his feet and keep him from using his feet and speed to his advantage. A close combat specialist, Ranma knew that having to fight someone like Itachi would be bothersome if Itachi was able to use his speed to his advantage.  
"You know why he was looking from Naruto?" Jiraiya asked, believing it had something to do with the Nine-Tails sealed within him.  
Ranma said nothing for a moment.  
"No, I don't," Ranma said, not wanting to reveal the truth, that Itachi wanted Naruto specifically for the power of the Nine-Tails demon sealed within him and would not think mourn over Naruto's death in extracting that power.  
Jiraiya made a slight nod toward Ranma to indicate that he knew Ranma didn't want to say because he didn't want Naruto there to hear. "We bumped into Tsunade," Ranma said, changing the subject.  
"You have? Where?" Jiraiya asked, "Here? In this village?"  
Ranma nodded, "We bumped into her friend, Shizune, while we were walking down the street. We found out she's a friend of Tsunade and met up with her at a restaurant,"  
"What did you say to her?" Jiraiya asked, "Did you tell her that I was looking for her?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I told her that the Hokage died and she was recommended to be the next Hokage to replace her,"  
"Did she accept?" Jiraiya asked.  
"No," Ranma said, "It seems like she has no intention in becoming Hokage,"  
Jiraiya looked very disappointed with that answer.  
"Who cares if she doesn't wanna become Hokage," Naruto butted in, "We don't need her as the new Hokage. I don't want her to be Hokage,"  
"In case you don't know, the village council has decided this so you actually have no say in the matter," Jiraiya said, "Even if your first impressions of her isn't favorable, she's most qualified to take over the role of Hokage and the responsibilities that come along with it,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
The waitress came by. Ranma and Naruto placed their orders.  
When the waitress left, Jiraiya asked, "Do you guys know where Tsunade might be?"  
"Somewhere around town," Ranma said, "She's still in town I think,"  
"You know what she's doing here?" Jiraiya asked.  
"Not too sure," Ranma said, "I never bothered asking. I think she was just passing by when we got lucky and found her,"  
Jiraiya got up and headed for the door, "If she's still around, I'm going to go look for her. There's some things I want to talk to her about,"  
"How do you know Tsunade?" Naruto asked curiously.  
"Tsunade is one of the Three Legendary Ninjas," Jiraiya said, "The other two are myself and Orochimaru, yes, Orochimaru. Much like how you're a part of a team of three, we were once a team as well,"  
Naruto said nothing, "How can you possibly be on the same team as Orochimaru? That guy killed the Hokage,"  
"Orochimaru wasn't like that all the time," Jiraiya stated, "Over the years, people change. If I think about it, the way Orochimaru, Tsunade, and I were as a team isn't all that different from they way Sasuke, Sakura, and you are right now,"  
"Sakura? Who's that?" Ranma asked, "What does she looks like?"  
"A teammate," Naruto said, "She was actually in the stands in the stadium during the tournament before everything went crazy. She's my age and has pink hair,"  
"Oh," Ranma said, "I don't think I've ever met her before,"  
"Anyway, I'm off to go look for her," Jiraiya said, "Where are you two staying? I want to keep in contact with you two,"  
Ranma said, "Well, I'm currently training Naruto. We train in the outskirts of the village most of the day. You can find us there,"  
"Okay," Jiraiya said, "What are you teaching Naruto?"  
"A buncha miscellaneous stuff," Ranma said, "Most of it is centered around developing his reflexes and speed. Every here and there, we switch to drawing in ki and shooting ki-blasts,"  
"Ki-blasts? You mean those projectiles you were shooting out of your hands that day against that monster?" Jiraiya asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, but he's got quite a bit of practice to do before he'll become really competent in it but he's coming along pretty well,"  
Naruto smiled proudly, "But I am coming along, ain't I?"  
Ranma chuckled, "Yeah. Just keep it up and you'll be fine,"  
Jiraiya regarded Naruto for a bit. He found himself surprised when he noticed that Naruto was wearing a weighted vest underneath his clothes. He hadn't noticed that before because Naruto looked perfectly natural wearing the vest. It made him wonder how much or little the weighted vest was. "It seems like you're in good hands," Jiraiya said to Naruto.  
"Just curious, would you have taught me any new techniques had I ended up looking for Tsunade with you instead of going along with Ranma?" Naruto asked.  
Jiraiya smirked, "Maybe,"  
"Can you show me what it is?" Naruto asked, "Y'know, a quick demonstration,"  
"Jeez," Ranma smirked, "You really just wanna learn everything at once, dontcha? Learning multiple techniques isn't all that good. It's better to concentrate on one thing at a time,"  
Naruto asked, "Why do you say that? You're giving me strength and speed training as well as showing me how to shoot ki-blasts,"  
Ranma said, "That's because they go hand-in-hand. I'm building up your body and strengthening it. That way, it'll be much easier for you to shoot ki-blasts afterwards,"  
Naruto scratched his head, "Wait, what gives? If that's the case, then why didn't you just start doing that right off the bat and train me this way instead of teaching me how to slowly draw in chakra?"  
Ranma smirked, "Because it's much harder. Which one do you think is harder, wearing a weighted vest while I basically beat the crap outta you and hurt you, or just sitting around and meditating?"  
Naruto said, "Oh, I guess you have a point,"  
"Keep in mind I was showing how to shoot ki-blasts simply for the heck of it," Ranma said, "But now that it's revealed that people are actually after you, the stakes are higher so it's more emphasis on getting you strong enough to defend yourself. Shooting ki-blast easier is just a benefit to it. If you build a strong foundation, everything else is easier. That's how it works with shooting ki-blast, by building a strong foundation in drawing in ki. However, because of what's going on, I'm helping you out at an even more fundamental level,"  
Naruto scratched his head, "What do you mean?"  
"Think of it along the lines of my helping you build a strong foundation sot that you can build a strong foundation on that as well," Ranma answered, "Think of it as a foundation for a foundation,"  
"Oh," Naruto got the picture.  
Jiraiya headed for the door, "It's best I get going. I look forward to seeing Naruto's training,"  
"Okay," Ranma said, "See you around,"  
"Later," Naruto said.  
Jiraiya left.  
"Jiraiya's a cool guy," Ranma said to Naruto, "I like him,"  
"I guess," Naruto shrugged. To him, he found Jiraiya to be a smart but perverted old man. He had been taught some techniques by Jiraiya but found Ranma to be a much better teacher, albeit harder.  
The waitress came and placed Ranma's and Naruto's orders on the table. She also placed the bill to Jiraiya's meal on the table as well.  
"What's this?" Ranma asked, looking at the piece of paper. It displayed a very large bill.  
"The bill for your friend," the waitress said before leaving, "Enjoy your meal,"  
After a moment, he realized the bill seemed like it was meant for Jiraiya. However, since Jiraiya was not there to pay for his bill, and it seemed like Ranma and Naruto knew him, the waitress realized that they would be paying for his bill.  
Ranma realized he had been stuck with Jiraiya's bill,  
"I take my word back. Jiraiya's not cool. I don't like him,"

Ranma and Naruto were walking down the street together.  
"This weighted vest feel like it weighs a ton," Naruto muttered, definitely not used to the new weights Ranma had added to the weighted vest of his. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Ranma chuckled, "It's all part of your training,"  
"Yeah, but does it hafta be that heavy?" Naruto asked, "How much weight didja add anyway?"  
"I'm not telling," Ranma smirked, "That's the fun part, wearing weights and having no idea just how much. You'll be in for a pleasant surprise when you take it off and find out just how heavy the vest was,"  
Having finished eating, and paying for Jiraiya's bill, the two of them had went to a shop and bought some lead weights to add to the vest. Naruto had no idea how much weight Ranma had added and it didn't help that Ranma had no intention of adding. After having added more weight to Naruto's vest, the two of them proceeded to made their way toward the outskirts of the city where they would continue on with Naruto's training. They could do this because Ranma could sense that Itachi and Kisame were no longer around, having gone off to search elsewhere when they realized Ranma and Naruto weren't there when they arrived.  
"Hey, isn't that Shizune?" Naruto pointed. He had spotted a young woman walking a pig a good distance down the street.  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "It seems like it is. C'mon, let's go say hi,"  
"What? Isn't she angry at us for what we've done?" Naruto said, "She's going to probably yell at us or something. I won't wanna hafta deal with that if I don't hafta,"  
Ranma said, "Don't worry about it. She's an adult. Adults think differently from children. I'm sure she won't be holding grudges for what had happened last night. As an adult, you grow to realize it's not worth it to hold grudges,"  
Naruto said, "How would you know? You're not much of an adult. You're only sixteen,"  
Ranma said, "Dontcha remember what I told you before? I just look sixteen. I'm really a very old man, older than even Jiraiya. It's easy to mistaken me for a kid because I look like one,"  
"Oh yeah," Naruto said, "I forgot,"  
"Let's go say hi," Ranma headed off.  
"Um, okay," Naruto said, trying to run after him but unable to. His legs barely wanted to move. Luckily, he didn't have to travel that great a distance.  
"Hey there, sexy," Ranma grinned as he approached Shizune from behind, "What's a fine girl like you doing in a place like this,"  
Shizune's eyes widened as she blushed. A man was hitting on her? What was she to do? Not used to ever being hit on, she didn't really know what to do except freeze up, unsure of exactly how she was supposed to respond.  
Ranma peeked his head around and smiled at her.  
Shizune yelped in surprised when she found herself recognizing Ranma.  
"Ranma!" she shouted, still blushing.  
Ranma approached Shizune, "Hey, Shizune,"  
She regarded him for a moment, wondering if Ranma really considered her sexy. It seemed like he was just teasing her, but the choice words he used might have some form of significance.  
"Um, you do know I was just messing around, right?" Ranma asked, noticing Shizune staring at him.  
"Of course," Shizune said, composing herself. After a moment, she started getting angry as she recalled Ranma's perversion and how he seemed to not care about corrupting Naruto's young and impressionable mind to suit his own needs.  
"What the heck are you doing here?" she asked, "You intend to do something perverted again?"  
Ranma held his hands up defensively, "No need to get angry. Besides, you saw me naked so let's consider us even,"  
Shizune blushed as a mental image of Ranma naked flashed before her mind.  
"You did that to trick us," Shizune said with a cold voice, forcing her blush away.  
"It worked though," Ranma grinned.  
"Hmph!" she snorted.  
Ranma smirked, "You liked what you saw?"  
"I will not answer such a question!" Shizune shouted, "Pervert!"  
Ranma chuckled, "C'mon, I'm just teasing you. I can't really help it. It's really the way I am. You can't fault me for being the way that I am,"  
"Actually, I can," Shizune said.  
Ranma bent down and pet the pig on the top of its head. It seemed to enjoy the attention. This Shizune found rather strange. The pig was never all that friendly to strangers other than Tsunade and herself. This was the second time Ranma had pet the pig and the pig didn't bite him.  
"I like animals and they can tell," Ranma answered her unspoken question, "Actually, I don't like all animals but I have my reasons for not liking a particular one,"  
Shizune smiled inwardly while Ranma continued to pet the pig and the pig seemingly enjoying the attention. She believed that animals were a good judge of character and the pig was one of the best.  
Of course, that made her wondering how good a person Ranma could be if he asked Naruto to steal women's panties. Perhaps the pig wasn't as good a judge of character as she and Tsunade originally believed.  
"Man," Naruto found himself panting, brow damp with sweat, "That was tiring,"  
Naruto had finally approached the two of them. It had taken him a good minute of strenuous activity to cover the short distance, what with the heavy weighted vest he was wearing.  
"Naruto," Shizune said, "It's nice to see you again,"  
Naruto regarded Shizune nervously, jerking a thumb toward Ranma, "Um, you're not going to try and hurt me, right? Ranma made me do it,"  
Ranma's face faulted, "Way to cover your own ass, Naruto. Make it so that I seem like the bad guy,"  
Shizune laughed at the comment.  
"How goes your training?" she asked, "Ranma here hasn't been teaching you more acts of perversion, has he?"  
Ranma whirled his head toward Shizune.  
"Hey,"

new stuff 1/3

The next three days passed by without incident. Those days basically consisted of nothing more than Ranma sparring with Naruto and Naruto getting beaten pretty badly each and every time. Naruto didn't even come close to ever landing a blow on Ranma. Of course, that could be due to Naruto's extreme handicap what with the weighted vest and all. Ranma found himself constantly surprised by the young boy as Naruto grew used to the weighted vest with astounding speed. The training sessions were the same. At night, they would stay at a random hotel. Luckily, they never ended up staying at the same hotel Tsunade nor Shizune stayed at on those nights. Every morning, Ranma and Naruto would stop off at an equipment shop and buy extra weights for the vest, Ranma taking care not to reveal how much weight was added every time. Every time Ranma added more weight, Naruto found himself struggling to hold walk all over again until he got used to it.  
"Can't wearing so much weight stunt my growth?" Naruto asked one morning.  
"Of course," Ranma smirked, "Because of this training, you're going to remain that height for the rest of your life,"  
"What?" Naruto shouted.  
"That's the trade-off," Ranma said, "You're gonna be a much better fighter once you take off the vest, but you're also going to remain at that height,"  
"I never wanted something like that to happen!" Naruto said, eyes wide, "I want to be stronger, but not at the expense of my height!"  
"Sorry, you should've told me that earlier," Ranma said.  
Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma burst out laughing, "I'm just messing with you,"  
"You are?" Naruto felt this wave of relief wash over him.  
"You don't hafta worry about that," Ranma said, "Sure, the weighted vest does stunt your growth, but I know how to basically un-stunt it. Some simply back adjustments will get you growing against right away,"  
"Oh," Naruto said. He glared at Ranma, "Why do you joke about stuff like that? I hate it when you joke about stuff,"  
Ranma smiled, messing up Naruto's hair, "Sorry, I can't help it. It's really easy teasing you,"  
Naruto didn't seem to mind Ranma from messing up his hair. He grew used to it. Besides, whenever he tried to stop him, Ranma would always end up messing his hair up in some way or another.  
As Naruto continued to spar against Ranma, he started wondering just how powerful a fighter Ranma was and stopped to ask such a question.  
"Just how strong are you?" Naruto asked.  
"Well, you think that weighted vest you wear is heavy?" Ranma asked.  
"Of course it's heavy," Naruto said, "What about it?"  
Ranma grabbed Naruto by the back of his vest and lifted him off his feet with one hand. Naruto found himself eye-level with Ranma, his feet off the ground, Ranma's arm extended straight out in front of his body at a perpendicular angle.  
"I'm pretty strong," Ranma smiled. He had a good feeling Naruto didn't understand true strength, him being young and all. Because Naruto understood that the vest was very heavy, using that as a reference would help show the young boy just how strong Ranma was.  
Naruto just stared at Ranma.  
It really put in perspective just how strong Ranma was when he did that. What Naruto could barely hold up with his entire body, his entire being, Ranma did it was ease with a single arm.  
"Wow," Naruto said, "You must be much stronger than that Tsunade woman, right?"  
Ranma placed Naruto down but never bothered to answer that. Strength was relative. A person could be brutally stronger than him but that strength would be wasted if that person didn't know how to implement it correctly.  
"How well can you fight?" Naruto asked, "It's obvious you're holding back a lot when you're sparring against me. Just how much are you holding back?"  
"I'm not holding back that much," Ranma said glibly with a smile, "You're growing so quickly that I find myself ramping up on how I spar against you. Before long, you'll be able to fight me on even grounds,"  
Naruto didn't know how to respond to that comment. While a young boy aspired to become the strongest person ever, they always wanted someone to look up to, to aspire to become. It was a good goal, to try and reach the level of someone much more powerful than him. However, what if he was able to defeat that person? It would mean he had attained his goal and there would no longer be a goal.  
"How long?" Naruto asked, "How long do you think it would be before I can ever fight you on even grounds?"  
Ranma smiled, "Depends on how hard you work. Could be fifty years. It could be even forty years with enough hard work,"  
"Fifty years!" Naruto gasped, "I thought it was something along the lines of a few months or something,"  
Ranma chuckled, "Not quite. You see, the difference in power level between you and me is very vast. How powerful you are doesn't come from how strong you are physically. How powerful you are comes from experience and mental ability,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"For instance, take this form of training I'm giving you," Ranma said, "There's a saying that where the mind goes, the body follows. The weights you're carrying and getting used to is all mental, not physical,"  
"What?" Naruto asked, "You're not making any sense. Of course it's physical. My body is getting strong enough to carry it. That's the reason why I'm able to carry it,"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. That isn't the case,"  
"What?" Naruto asked, confused, "Whatcha mean by that?"  
"The human body is insanely strong," Ranma said, "Your body is so strong that you can barely understand it. It's mind boggling how strong your body is. The problem is that your mind prevents you from getting stronger. Your mind is heavily restricting what your body can do,"  
Naruto said nothing. All of this was news to him.  
"In order to get really strong, you need to unlock the natural mental handicap between your mind and your body," Ranma said, jerking a thumb behind him, "Think of it as this, the body you have at this very moment, can rip out that tree with its bare hands,"  
"Get out of here!" Naruto said.  
"Just listen," Ranma said, "Lettme finish my explanation. Your body is capable of doing that. The problem is that you can not mentally overcome that notion that your body can do that. Your body is strong enough to do that. Your mind isn't strong enough to make your body do that. That's the mental handicap between your mind and your body,"  
Naruto scratched his head, "Then how do you get past that handicap?"  
"You force your mind to overcome it," Ranma said, "Why do you think you're wearing the weighted vest? It's insanely heavy. Why do you think your body struggles to carry it, because mentally, you think believe its heavy. Your mind believes this which is why your body struggles to carry it. However, after a short while, you mind loosens up on that handicap so that the body can start using more of its natural strength to handle the weight,"  
"I don't follow you," Naruto said.  
Ranma held out a pinkie, "Picture your pinky as the strength you posses. With your pinkie, I'm sure you can't lift all that much weight up, right? Think of that as what you can lift with your body at your current level of development. Well, the thing is is that you don't have JUST your pinkie to lift something up. The problem is that mentally, you don't realize that which is why you can't unlock your body's ability to start using the whole hand and arms and such to lift something heavy,"  
"Oh, I think I'm starting to get it," Naruto said.  
"What I'm basically doing is giving you some weight way too heavy for your pinkie to lift," Ranma said, "Your brain is having trouble lifting that weight with just one pinkie. Because of that, it basically says 'Okay, I can't lift the weight with one pinkie. Let's use two fingers now',"  
Naruto's eyes widened, "Is that why I got used to the weight? Because it's kinda like my body realizing it can't hold the weight and is now using 'two fingers' to carry it?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Picture the strength of what your body is capable of as the strength of a regular human body. The weight you're lifting now is what that body can lift using two fingers, so to speak," "Oh! I get it," Naruto said.  
"Your training and wearing the weighted vest is there to force your mind to say 'Hey, I can't use just one finger anymore. I better start using more'," Ranma smiled, "And before long, over time, your mind will unlock the portion of your mind which will let it say 'Let's start using the entire body to lift that weight',"  
Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma tapped his head, "It's all in the mind. If you can unlock the portion of your mind that allows it to start using the strength your body is naturally capable of already, you'll be much stronger,"  
"Wow," Naruto gasped.  
"The way everyone thinks of how their bodies are is that their bodies're weak and they need to get their bodies stronger," Ranma said, "What people need to understand is that their bodies are immensely strong and it's that their way of thinking is what keeps the body restricted and seemingly weak. It's basically looking at things from a completely different perspective,"  
"That's incredible," Naruto said, looking at his arms, "I can rips out trees with this body? All I need is to mentally overcome that hurtle that would allow me to unlock my body's true strength to do so?"  
Ranma nodded, "Now you get the picture. Ripping out a tress from the ground is actually nothing. Your body is far stronger than that, but ripping out a tree from the ground is usually a good way to use as a reference for strength. Here, let me show you,"  
Naruto watched as Ranma walked over to a nearby tree. He watched as Ranma placed one hand on it.  
Slowly, Ranma pushed forward with one hand. The three could be seen slowly starting to become uprooted as it tilted toward the side. After it was at a forty-five degrees angle to the ground, Ranma walked over to the other side of the tree and pushed it back the other way so that it was straight again. "You see?" Ranma said to the stunned Naruto, "I just used one hand and didn't even break a sweat doing that. That should put in perspective just how strong the human body is,"  
Naruto said nothing, still in a state of shock.  
"It's all mental," Ranma said, "Get past the mental block that naturally exists between your mind and your body and you're going to be seeing yourself throwing boulders that weigh several tons without breaking a sweat,"  
Naruto asked, "What about people that lift weights? They're only gaining strength very slowly. I'm basically lifting weights, the weighted vest, and how come my strength is increasing much faster?"  
"That's because of the training," Ranma smiled, "The way to increase your strength is to subconsciously increase it. Keep in mind when I say 'increase your strength' what I really mean is 'unlock more of your body's natural strength'. I just use that term because it's easier for people to understand,"  
"I gotcha," Naruto nodded.  
"It's all about the training," Ranma said, "Not everyone is cut out for this kinda training. Some people learn much slower than others. You happen to be a really quick learner,"  
"Thanks," Naruto smiled happily at the compliment.  
"It's actually your persistence," Ranma said, "You constantly get up back up where any regular person would've given up long ago. Because of that, you're growing really quickly?"  
"How quickly am I growing?" Naruto asked curiously, "Compared to you that is,"  
"You're growing at around the same speed as I am," Ranma said, "Perhaps a bit faster,"  
Naruto grinned.  
"Don't get a big head over it," Ranma laughed, "Keep in mind I learned at the rate you're learning...by myself. You have me teaching you. If you had to grow like this on your own, don't expect yourself to making these leaps and bounds in your growth all that quickly,"  
"Oh," Naruto said.  
Ranma smiled, "But don't worry. You're still growing very quickly. You're growing probably around ten times faster than Shinji, that's for sure. If you remember, I mentioned that he's the kid I trained to take over my dojo,"  
Naruto said, "I'd like to spar against him one day,"  
Ranma smirked, "It'd be a fun fight, at this point in your development,"  
"Whatcha mean?" Naruto asked.  
"In terms of pure fighting skill, you're about even," Ranma said, "But in a few days from now, you're gonna surpass his level,"  
Naruto smiled happily.  
"Why're you all happy?" Ranma smirked, "You don't even know the kid. It's as if you see him as a rival and you don't even know who he is,"  
Naruto asked, "How about Sasuke? How do I compare to him?"  
Ranma shrugged, "Dunno. Never really saw Sasuke fight. It'd be a pretty close match. What, you consider him your rival?"  
"Of course," Naruto said, "You said that you have a rival. What was his name? Ryoga? Well, Sasuke and I are rivals like you and that Ryoga person are rivals,"  
Ranma smiled, "Heh, rivalries are good. It makes you want to grow to become a more powerful person. Heck, that's probably the main reason why you're growing so much, because subconsciously, you want to overtake your rival, Sasuke,"  
Naruto smirked, "Perhaps,"  
"Look, enough talking," Ranma said, "Now that you're done resting, let's start another match,"  
Naruto smiled.  
"All right," Ranma and Naruto walked down the street one day, done with their afternoon training session and about to break for something to eat. Training made both Ranma and Naruto hungry.  
"We're running low on money," Naruto said, checking his pockets. He wished he still had his frog coin bag because he hated having coin jiggling around in pockets. Ranma shrugged, "That's no problem," "How come?" Naruto asked, "Without money, we won't be able to get a hotel room anymore. I don't like using rocks for pillows and don't wanna sleep on the ground anymore if I don't hafta,"  
Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "Don't worry about it. We can make ourselves money,"  
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "How?"  
"We'll just make ourselves money back at the casino," Ranma said.  
"But that was a game of chance," Naruto said, "What makes you think you can win a lot of money again a second time around?"  
Ranma said, "Don't worry about it. Just trust me,"  
Naruto shrugged. He had trusted Ranma all this time before so there should be no reason for him to start distrusting Ranma now.  
He followed Ranma into the casino, the same casino where Ranma had won all that money. Upon entering, they bumped into Tsunade and Shizune as they were on their way out.  
"Wow, fancy meeting you here," Ranma smiled warmly at the two girls.  
"You!" Tsunade said in a cold voice.  
"Still angry about the panty incident?" Ranma asked.  
Tsunade wave a hand dismissively, "Forget about it. It's water under the bridge,"  
Ranma smiled, "That's good to hear,"  
"Hello, Naruto," Shizune said toward the young boy, "How goes your training?"  
"Okay I guess," Naruto answered. He wondered why Shizune seemed so interested in his progress in his training.  
"How come you're here?" Ranma asked the girls, "Lettme guess, Tsunade gambled away all the money I gave you two?"  
Tsunade said nothing.  
Shizune gave a meek smile, "Um, more or less. How did you know?"  
Ranma said, "Jiraiya mentioned that, that Tsunade seems to have a gambling problem. And speaking of which, have you two bumped into him yet?"  
"Yet?" Tsunade asked, "What, he's here?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I bumped into him a couple of days ago. He asked me where I could find you but I had no idea. He said he was going to look for you. Said something about wanting talk to you about something. I think it's related to him wanting to convince you to be Hokage and all. I'm not too sure,"  
Tsunade said, "I'll be sure to be on the lookout for him,"  
"You already know why we're here, how come you two are here?" Shizune asked curiously.  
Ranma said, "We're kinda broke so we came here to get some money,"  
"How? You mean gambling?" Tsunade smirked. Ranma nodded, "Yeah, more or less,"  
Tsunade laughed, "It seemed like we not the only one that seemed to like gambling,"  
Shizune said, "Tsunade-sama, I don't think you should be saying 'we' since I'm here because of you, not because I gamble,"  
Tsunade stopped laughing. Shizune had a point.  
"You girls outta money?" Ranma asked, "You need more? I can give you some,"  
Shizune and Tsunade looked at one another.  
"Wait, if you're broke, how do you expect to give us money?" Shizune asked logically, "It doesn't make sense,"  
"I won't be broke for long," Ranma smirked.  
"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked.  
"Follow me," Ranma walked off.  
The girls looked at one another before following after Naruto as Naruto followed behind Ranma.  
Ranma held a hand out toward Naruto.  
Naruto reached into his pocket and took out a coin and gave it to Ranma. He watched as Ranma put the coin in the slot machine and pulled the lever.  
After a moment, the slot machine started spewing out a deluge of coins, Ranma having won a second time.  
"We're rich again!" Naruto jumped happily, grabbing at the coins and filling his pockets, "We're rich again!"  
Ranma smiled warmly. If he thought about it, winning some more money was useful. Naruto was getting used to the weighted vest that it seemed like they would be buying weights and adding them to the vest twice a day instead of once.  
"Just grab a handful," Ranma said to Naruto, "Better yet, just fill up your pockets. Leave the rest for the girls,"  
"But-" Naruto tried to protest.  
"C'mon," Ranma said, "Don't be greedy. Just take the money you need. We don't need all that money,"  
Naruto let out an annoyed breath as he stepped away from the pile of coins that littered the floor in front of him. The slot machine had spewed out so many coins that the coins overflowed the coin chute and fell down on the floor.  
Ranma turned his gaze over toward the girls, smiling, "Help yourselves, girls. Take the rest of the money. It should be enough to last you for several days if you intend to blow it all away gambling,"  
"Are you sure?" Shizune asked.  
"Sure," Ranma smiled warmly, "We don't need that money. It'll help you out more than it'll help us out,"  
"Um, thank you," Shizune said, forgiving Ranma completely of the panty incident. Okay, perhaps it was perverted of him, but she was willing to overlook that aspect of him simple because of his overwhelming kindness toward them. "Well, it's best we be going now," Ranma said, "I'll see you two at the end of the week, when Naruto's done with his training,"  
"Um, okay," Shizune said, "Thanks a lot. Take care,"  
She watched as Ranma and Naruto both left the casino before turning toward Tsunade.  
"Ranma's a really great guy! Look at all this money he left us!" Shizune smiled happily, holding up a hand full of coins up for her friend to see, "That guy's a walking good luck charm it seems. Tsunade? What's the matter?"  
Tsunade wasn't paying any attention, her gaze on the door where Ranma and Naruto had exited the casino through. She had this starry-eyed look on her face, like she had just met someone very special and needed time to compose herself.  
"Hey, something wrong?" Shizune asked, waving a hand in front of her friend's eyes, trying to get her attention.  
Shizune regarded her friend's blushing face.  
"Hey, why are you blushing like that?"

new stuff 12/4

"Hey, can you teach me other stuff?" Naruto asked eagerly as the two of them walked down the street, on their way to some random restaurant to get some food.  
Ranma asked, "Like what? You mean some more techniques? Didn't you hear what I told you when we met up with Jiraiya? Learning multiple techniques will make it harder for you to learn any singular technique since your mind is split into learning other things at the same time. It's better to concentrate on learning one technique at a time,"  
Naruto said, "I understand that. I mean about something else. Anything,"  
"Huh? Ranma asked.  
"It's obvious you know a lotta stuff," Naruto said, "Maybe you can teach me about other stuff that you know,"  
Ranma said, "Of course I know a lotta techniques. Once again, teaching you will only hurt you from learning what you want, ki-blasts,"  
Naruto said, "No! Not that. Not techniques. You've got it all wrong,"  
"Then what?" Ranma scratched the top of his head, confused.  
"I mean other stuff," Naruto asked, "I'm sure you know a lotta stuff that aren't related to martial arts. Heck, that part about your body being super strong but being restricted because your mind doesn't realize that, that's not really related to martial arts and such. I'm curious to learn about stuff like that,"  
"Oh," Ranma said, "You mean mundane stuff," "Mundane?" Naruto asked.  
"It's a vocabulary word," Ranma said, "Think of it as 'worldly', typical to the world. Stuff like putting on your shoes would be considered a mundane task,"  
Naruto said, "Okay. That. I like learning stuff from you. You talk about a lotta stuff that's really interesting,"  
"What would you like to know?" Ranma asked. "I dunno, anything," Naruto asked with a shrugged.  
Ranma smiled. It seemed like Naruto was eager to role and seem to want to learn from Ranma. It seemed like something typically found between older brothers and little brothers. It seemed like Naruto wanted to learn about things that older brother, Ranma, knew.  
"How about girls?" Ranma smirked, wondering if the boy was old enough to even start liking girls. Naruto was very young and perhaps was still at the age where he thought girls were icky. Ranma wasn't too sure.  
Naruto's eyes lit up, "You know a lot about girls?"  
Ranma said, "Sorry, can't really help you there. I only know two things about them,"  
"What's that?" Naruto asked, feeling that those two things would be revelations about girls that he never knew about.  
"They're soft and they smell nice," Ranma said, "That's all I know,"  
Naruto didn't seem impress.  
"I dunno much about them," Ranma said, "Girls are weird,"  
"Weird?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah, for instance, how the hell can they bleed for a few days and not die?" Ranma asked, scratching his head.  
"Ranma!" came a voice from behind them.  
Ranma turned around and found himself staring at Tsunade and Shizune, both looking like they were fuming mad.  
"How dare you say something like that!" Tsunade shouted hotly.  
They had chased after Ranma and had found him and Naruto standing in the middle of the street having a deep conversation. As they approached them, they figured they shouldn't interrupt them as they talked and simply followed them, awaiting for a break in their conversation so they could make their presence known.  
It wasn't until Ranma made that rather vulgar comment about women menstruating that they couldn't keep silent.  
"What?" Ranma asked innocently, "Why are you all angry at me?"  
"You know exactly why!" Tsunade sneered.  
"You're corrupting Naruto!" Shizune said, "You should not be teaching him such things!"  
Ranma said, "Corrupting him? How? He an I are simply having a conversation. Whether or not he chooses to believe me what I say is his prerogative," "That's not the point!" Shizune said, "Naruto is young. He's impressionable," Naruto raised his hand, "Hello. I'm still here,"  
"Naruto, you wanna learn a new technique?" Ranma turned toward the young boy.  
"Yeah, sure!" Naruto seemed enthusiastic.  
"Follow my lead," Ranma said.  
The girls looked at one another, momentarily distracted with the thought of what Ranma intended to teach Naruto that they forgot to continue yelling at Ranma for his corruption of Naruto.  
"Ready?" Ranma asked, getting low, almost crouching.  
"Yeah," Naruto said, emulating him and getting low as well.  
"Saotome Ultimate Secret Technique!" Ranma shouted.  
"Saotome Ultimate Secret Technique!" Naruto emulated.  
Ranma suddenly ran away from the group. Naruto quickly followed suit, lucky that extra weight hadn't been added to that weighted vest of his.  
Both girls looked at one another, wondering what kind of technique was that.  
After a good minute, they started to realize something.  
"I think Ranma tricked us again," Shizune said, "I think that that technique is nothing more than running away,"  
Tsunade said, "How dare he make fools out of us! How dare he trick us like that!"  
"Twice actually," Shizune hated to admit.  
Tsunade let out an annoyed breath as she turned around and started walking away.  
"I'm really going to hurt that Ranma when I get my hands on him!"

Naruto gasped for breath when they stopped running near the outskirts of the village.  
"What kind of technique is that, the Saotome Ultimate Secret Technique?" Naruto panted.  
"It's a complex technique," Ranma said, "It requires turning your back toward your opponent and dashing away. While dashing away, it frees you the time to figure out what to do later on when you face your opponent later on,"  
Naruto said, "It sounds like running away,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "Gee, I never really thought of it like that. Now that I think about it, it sure sounds like it,"  
Naruto's face-faulted. "Well, whatever the case, it got us out of hot water," Ranma waved a hand.  
"Us? How were we in hot water?" Naruto asked, "I wasn't in hot water. You were. Tsunade and Shizune seemed angry at you, not me,"  
Ranma gave a meek smile, "Um, I guess you have a point. But still, it's better safe than sorry," To Ranma, Tsunade seemed like a wickedly stronger version of Akane and with a shorter temper. That was not a good combination, at least not in terms of his heath.  
"We're going to do a special sparring match," Ranma said, changing the subject, "We're gonna change to a new form of training for you after we add yet more weight to that vest of yours,"  
"What? What kinda special sparring match?" Naruto asked.  
"This is gonna be much much more intense than what you're used to," Ranma said, "Your training has come along fine these several days, so it's time to actually ramp up the training. I'm going to be hitting you REALLY hard from here on. Rather than me gently throw you to the ground, I'm gonna be punching and kicking you now,"  
Naruto's jaw dropped.  
"Don't worry," Ranma smiled, "There are gonna be safety precautions to prevent you from getting really hurt,"  
"Like what?" Naruto asked, worried about what was to come. Ranma grinned, "You'll see,"

"I'm gonna feed you some ki," Ranma said, "That way, the ki will protect you from being fatally wounded," "F-fatally wounded? What kinda sparring is this?" Naruto gasped.  
Ranma said, "It's going to be one where I actually hit you hard enough that every attack would kill you,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
He and Ranma were back at their training grounds, the open field located just outside the village. "However, you don't hafta worry about that," Ranma said, "With enough ki within you, the ki will actually act as a shield, so to speak, and protect you quite a bit from such attacks,"  
Naruto said, "Wait, you mean to say that chakra can be used to protect me as well shoot ki-blasts?"  
Ranma bonked Naruto on the top of his head, "Where have you been all this time? Of course it can. Didn't you hear me tell you that ki can be used for basically anything? It can be used for defensive and offensive purposes,"  
"How do I do it?" Naruto asked.  
"You already do it," Ranma said, "The problem is that the ki that you do draw in that can be used to protect you usually escapes before it can be used for anything useful like that,"  
Naruto said, "Oh, that's why I can't shoot ki-blasts right away, because all the chakra I gather up disappears before I can use it properly?"  
Ranma nodded, "yeah, that's one of the reasons. The other reason is that you currently don't have a large enough ki reserve to actually shoot out a ki-blast that's visible or even destructive. You can probably send something out that would probably blow out a candle now, but that's about it,"  
Naruto looked sad, "That's it? All this time and I've only improved that little?"  
"You're too impatient," Ranma said, "These things take time. You actually can shoot a visible ki-blast if you want, but you're going to burn yourself out shooting it. You can actually conjure a ki-blast using your internal ki, but shooting it will basically exhaust you completely and you might even black out. We need to get you shooting ki-blasts using the ki drawn into you body from your surroundings. That way, you won't get tired,"  
Naruto asked, "Do you ever get tired shooting ki-blasts?"  
Ranma nodded, "Of course. That's because back then, I didn't understand the true science behind shooting ki-blasts. I would draw in ki and shoot it. Little did I know that every time I shoot one, I was shooting all the ki I drew in as well as some of my internal ki. Over time, if I constantly shoot them, I would get tired because I was depleting some of my internal ki every time I shot one and it takes a lot of time to recover internal ki,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Anyway, I'm gonna give you my own ki, which you will use for defensive purposes," Ranma said.  
"How?" Naruto asked, "I don't really even understand how I managed to shoot a ki-blast that time. How do you expect me to envision some kinda protective barrier around me?"  
"It's natural," Ranma said, "That's why you were able to shoot a ki-blast on your first try. All you needed to do is think about it and it happens. It's kinda like using your own Will to manipulate the ki to doing whatcha want it to,"  
"Oh," Naruto said.  
Ranma said, "So long as you're aware of what's going on, then you'll be safe. For instance, if you brace yourself for something, you won't really get hurt. If you're completely caught off guard, you will get hurt,"  
Naruto gulped.  
"Don't worry," Ranma said, "I'm gonna go fairly easy on you. I'll know if you're ready to get hit before even you will realize. If I'm going to hit you and I notice you're not braced for it, where the ki will protect you, I'll just stop in mid-punch,"  
Naruto asked, "Wow, you can react that quickly? You can see things that quickly?"  
Ranma nodded. He smirked, "Heh, you say 'Wow' a lot, dontcha?"  
"Hey, if something amazes me, then yeah," Naruto retorted, "And frankly, I've been finding out a lotta amazing things in the past few days that I never knew was possible,"  
Ranma chuckled, "I guess you have a point. Anyway, let's get started,"  
"Okay," Naruto said nervously, "Wait, one more thing. I have a question,"  
"What is it?" Ranma asked patiently.  
"You said that almost all the chakra escapes from my body almost instantly," Naruto said, "Even if you give me your chakra, what will prevent it from escaping my body instantly as well?"  
Ranma smiled, "That's a pretty good question. You lose all your ki almost instantly. You can only hold so much ki on your own, and a very little amount at that. With the ki I give you, you're going to be naturally losing ki just as quickly, at the same rate. But because I'll be giving you an astronomically larger amount of ki, the rate of which you would lose it would not really matter. Think of your body a soda can, and the ki is the soda. You can easily empty out the soda can quickly. However, if you're given enough soda to, say, fill up and entire stadium, the amount of which escapes won't really matter,"  
"But won't it all escape eventually?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. However, you can probably go a few minutes without having to worry about running out of ki if I give you plenty of it,"  
"Ah," Naruto smiled, "That's cool,"  
"Because I can sense ki, I'll be able to tell when you're just about out of ki, where taking attacks will hurt you, and I'll stop," Ranma said with a smile.  
"That's good to hear," Naruto seemed relieved. "All right, let's get started," Ranma said.  
"After I'm given enough chakra, we're just going to fight?" Naruto asked, "Or should I say, I be your punching bag?"  
"Bingo," Ranma chuckled.  
Naruto sighed. He hoped Ranma knew what he was doing. Ranma placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. In an instant, Naruto could feel this overwhelming feeling of power starting to envelop him as ki started to flow into his body. As the seconds passed by, the feelings of increasing power started to make him panic, the sensation of his body wanting to explode very noticeable.  
"I-I feel like I'm gonna blow up," Naruto said with a shaky and frightened voice.  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, continuing to give Naruto his ki, "It's natural. It's scary at first but you get used to it,"  
Naruto felt the overwhelming urge to extend his hands toward the sky and release all that ki within him as a ki-blast. However, because Ranma said he would be fine, he believed him.  
"All right," came Ranma's voice, "You've already received as much ki as back then,"  
Naruto's eyes widened. That couldn't be. He didn't feel nearly as panicked now as back then. Could that mean his body and mind was getting used to the sensation already? Could his training somehow improved his body to take in ki without feeling the great sense of fear?  
"All right," Ranma said, pulling his hand away, "Now that you've got more than enough ki, we're going to get started. Just make sure you don't go shooting a ki-blast. You can very well kill the both of us,"  
Naruto gulped as he stood very still, as if afraid to move. It felt like all the ki within him wanted to escape out of any part of his body, and if he moved, it really would.  
"Don't worry," Ranma said, "I trust you enough that you won't do something like that,"  
"Um, o-okay," Naruto said.  
"Let's go!" Ranma cocked his arm back, a grin on his face.  
He stepped forward toward the surprised Naruto, stomping his foot down hard on the ground as he pivoted his body around, bringing around a vicious right hook punch right into Naruto's jaw.  
A loud shockwave from the impact of Ranma's fist against Naruto's jaw could be heard as Naruto was sent flying bodily through the air where he slammed against a nearby tree. He ended up hitting the tree with such force that he crashed right through, crashing through several more trees right behind it before he bounced off one and down to his hands and knees.  
"Ugh!" Naruto said, feeling a stinging sensation in his jaw.  
He looked down at his hands as he remained on his hands and knees.  
"How can I be alive?" Naruto asked himself, "There's no way I could've survived a hit like that,"  
Two feet appeared right near his peripheral vision. Instinctively turning his gaze in the direction, he found himself looking up as he saw Ranma standing right by him, a leg straight up over his head, about to execute a wicked ax kick.  
"Oh no!" Naruto shouted as he instinctively brought his hands up to protect his face, just as the heel of Ranma's foot came crashing down on him, sending the young boy smashing down into the ground where the entire ground sagged downward from the impact.  
"Oof!" Naruto found the wind knocked out of him, his face firmly embedded in the ground.  
Before he had a chance to try and get up, a vicious foot stomped right down on the back of his head. Naruto found his legs pointing upward body as his body went almost completely vertical from the impact before it fell back down into a horizontal position.  
As he tried to figure out up from down and left from right, Naruto suddenly found himself being picked up and placed on his feet. The hands that picked him up were gentle, much like the way a father would pick up a son after the son had fallen off a bike.  
"You okay?" came Ranma's voice.  
Naruto, a bit disoriented, looked up toward Ranma.  
"W-what happened?" the boy asked, swaying a bit. It wasn't because he was hurt or such, but because it seemed like his world was spinning around him. He had gone punishment that would had easily killed anyone, yet he was still alive. His mind was having problems comprehending that.  
Ranma smirked, "You took quite a beating. However, aside from some dirt on your face and perhaps having the wind knocked outta you. You're fine,"  
Naruto caught sight of a shadow right behind Ranma, heading straight toward him, possessing a massive aura of killing intent.  
"Lookout!" he tried to say, "Behind you!"  
"Huh?" Ranma turned around.  
Ranma turned around just in time to see a clenched fist crash right into his face. He didn't even have a chance to yelp out in surprise as the impact sent him flying bodily through the air where he slammed through more than three dozen trees before his flight was slowed down enough for him to bounce off a tree and down to the ground, on his hands and knees.  
"Oh my God!" Ranma felt bolts of pain shooting through his face and body, "That hurts! That really really hurts!"  
As Ranma tried to figure out what had happened, his eyes widened as he realized something. He had been paying so much attention to the fight that he had forgotten about sensing where Itachi's and Kisame's whereabouts were. All that commotion of him beating on Naruto should had caught their attention. "Oh shit!" Ranma said, the blood draining from his face.  
Naruto was in deep trouble. Itachi had found them and had used the element of surprise to attack him, to give themselves the opportunity to seize kidnap Naruto.  
Shaking the cobweb from his heads, Ranma got to his feet, staggering slightly. That punch had really hurt and he might have a concussion. That punch had caught him by total surprise which was why it hurt so much. Although he possessed lightning quick reflexes, getting caught off-guard like that meant he had no time to react or even attempt to react to something.  
He caught a shadow from the corner of his eye and turned toward it, only to see the shadow quickly change direction. He followed the shadow as it moved in seemingly random directions, zigzagging around as if to confuse him.  
Realizing that that was nothing more than a way of distracting him, Ranma quickly ran off in the direction of where Naruto was. Ranma was too smart to let something like that distracting him from his priorities.  
As he ran along, he caught the shadow suddenly circle around him from behind and from below, shooting out a leg straight upward toward his face.  
Ranma grabbed the shadow's leg, seizing it in his arms as he stepped forward and executed a reaping throw, kicking out the one leg his opponent was balancing on. His opponent fell down to the ground with a loud thud.  
"Oof!" came a voice that didn't sound like Itachi's.  
Ranma looked down at his opponent and realized he wasn't looking at Itachi or even Kisame for that matter. He found himself looking down at Tsunade as she lay on her back, a nasty sneer on her lips.  
"Tsunade?" Ranma asked, confused, "What the hell're you doing here? And why are you attacking me?"  
"You monster!" Tsunade shouted. With one leg still seized in Ranma's grasp, kicked toward Ranma with her free leg, kicking straight toward his face.  
Ranma just leaned back as the attack missed him easily. He let go of her leg and took a step back as she got up to her feet.  
"What's the matter with you?" Ranma asked.  
"How dare you attack him like that!" Tsunade shouted, tears started to flow from her eyes. She attacked at him with knife-hand attacks, as if she intended to rip out his organs with her bare hands.  
"Who, Naruto?" Ranma asked, dodging. He couldn't help but feel pressured as he continuously dodged Tsunade's attack.  
Tsunade was in a state of rage, unable to listen to Ranma's words. After the incident with Ranma tricking her a second time, she wanted to find Ranma and hit him a few times just to let him know that she shouldn't be trifled with. Upon arriving there with Shizune, they had spotted Ranma viciously attacking Naruto, as if trying to kill him.  
Because Naruto looked very much like her brother, Tsunade momentarily forgot who Naruto was and believed Ranma was attacking her very own baby brother. That was when she exploded and tried to kill Ranma, so that she could kill the man that killed her baby brother.  
"Enough!" Ranma shouted, realizing that Tsunade didn't seem to hear what he was trying to say, "Quit attacking me! I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding!"  
Tsunade seemed to be crying as she attacked at Ranma. All those years of that pent up agony over the death of her loved ones seemed to start surfacing, as if Ranma was the manifestation of the evil that took them from her.  
"This is for all the grief you gave me!" she shouted toward the evil in front of her, completely forgetting who she was or that her opponent was Ranma.  
With speed that shocked even Ranma, Tsunade dashed forward and struck Ranma with an open-palm strike right to the heart. A massive shockwave could be heard as the impact seemed to right through Ranma's ki-defense.  
"Erk!" Ranma staggering backwards as a massive bolt of pain shot through his entire body. Before he had a chance to recover, another devastating open-palm strike struck him in the chest this time, "Erk!"  
Ranma found himself getting angry as he dodged Tsunade's attacks. Those attacks really hurt and he didn't like it one bit. He had no idea why she was attacking him. Was she that angry for being tricked back there in the village? That's one seriously nasty and vindictive temper.  
"C'mon, quit attacking," Ranma said, continuing to dodge.  
Tsunade continued to attack, some attacks actually hitting him. Because of his high threshold for pain, the attacks had very little effect on him.  
"Hey! What's going on here?" came Naruto's voice.  
Tsunade seemed to instantly stop attacking Ranma as Naruto's voice seemed to catch her attention. She turned her attention toward him as he and Shizune and the pig approached the two of them, hopping over a few fallen tress in the process.  
"N-Naruto," she said, this look of shock on her face, "You're alive,"  
"Yeah," Naruto said, "Why're you attacking Ranma?"  
"Yeah, I'd like to know that myself," Ranma commented, rubbing at his chest where he had been struck by those two devastating open-palm attacks. Tsunade looked at Naruto and then at Ranma and then at Shizune.  
"They were training," Shizune said, "Naruto said that that was a part of his training,"  
"H-how?" Tsunade asked, noticing Naruto looked perfectly fine, "How can you possibly be live after taking so much punishment?"  
Ranma said, "Like Shizune said, it's a part of his training,"  
"Wait, you mean to say he wasn't trying to murder Naruto?" Tsunade asked.  
"No," Naruto said, "He was showing me something,"  
Tsunade had a confused look on her face.  
"Why were you attacking him like that?" Tsunade asked.  
"Like I said, it was a part of his training," Ranma answered, "Now, perhaps you can answer my question, why were you attacking me like that?"  
Tsunade said, "Because I thought you were killing him,"  
"Why the hell would I go and do something like that?" Ranma asked. He threw his hands up in the air, "Jeez, what's with people constantly jumping to conclusions around here? Is there no such thing as diplomacy?"  
Shizune said, "Well, it did look like you were murdering Naruto,"  
Ranma said, "Well, I guess you have a point,"  
"What kind of training is this?" Tsunade asked, "What kind of insane training are you giving Naruto that requires him to get beaten up so badly like that?"  
Ranma gestured toward Naruto, "Take a look at Naruto yourself before you ask that. Does he look all beaten up?"  
Tsunade looked at Naruto. Naruto looked perfectly fine save for some dirt on his face as his clothes having a few grass stains and such. There were no cuts on his face or even any signs of him bleeding underneath his clothes.  
Tsunade couldn't help but be very confused.  
"Naruto has improved vastly," Shizune said as she and Tsunade walked down the street together, the pig following closely behind.  
Tsunade said nothing for a moment, "That can't be the Naruto I remember from a few days ago,"  
Shizune asked, "What do you mean?"  
"How can it be possible that someone can improve so much in such a short period of time?" Tsunade asked, more to herself than Shizune.  
Shizune smirked, "Maybe he was holding back when he was going up against you that day,"  
Tsunade was silent.  
"That boy seems to have blown away your views of what it's like to become Hokage," Shizune stated, "For a boy to improve so much in such a short time, it's obvious he's very passionate about his dreams. Don't you think it's worth believing in the dreams of a little boy like Naruto's?"  
Tsunade said, "Why don't you just get to the point. I know what you're getting at. You're trying to convince me not to turn my back toward Hidden Leaf Village and accept Orochimaru's deal,"  
Shizune said, "Well, of course. I don't want you to accept Orochimaru's deal. Okay, Orochimaru's proposal to resurrect your loved ones sound very tempting, even from my point of view, but if you help him get the use of his arms back and be able to use his Jutsu, he's going to destroy Hidden Leaf Village. Naruto's dream is to become the Hokage of Hidden Leaf Village, are you going to throw away a little boy's dream to one day protect and watch over the village in exchange for your two loved ones being brought back to life?"  
Tsunade smirked, "What's wrong with that? I'm not obligated to become Hokage or have any obligations toward Hidden Leaf Village. The choice I made is my own, be it helping Orochimaru in exchange for having back with me two of the most important people in my life, or be it refusing Orochimaru,"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"I know Naruto reminds you of your long lost little brother," Shizune said, "And I know that he died, trying to attain the dreams Naruto currently has. But don't you want to see Naruto achieve his dreams where your little brother has not?"  
After a moment, Tsunade smiled.  
"I was wrong," Tsunade said. "Wrong about what?" Shizune asked.  
"I was wrong for ever having considered accepting Orochimaru's offer," she said.  
Shizune smiled happily, "I'm glad to hear that. I knew I can believe in you,"  
Tsunade smiled.  
"Tsunade! Shizune!" came a voice.  
Shizune and Tsunade whirled around and found themselves watching Jiraiya as he came walking down the street toward them. Having spotted them from down the block, Jiraiya had called out to them to get their attention. Having been searching for them ever since he got to the village and coming up with no leads, he was very glad to have finally found them.  
"Jiraiya!" Shizune seemed pleasantly surprised, "It's been a while,"  
"Yes it has," Jiraiya smiled, "Isn't that right, Tsunade?"  
Tsunade snorted in annoyance. While they weren't enemies and were actually friends, Tsunade considered him more along the lines of an annoying friend than anything else. A no-nonsense woman, Tsunade found Jiraiya and his somewhat childish personality annoying.  
Jiraiya held his hands out, grinning like an idiot, "It's been a while. Let's hug,"  
Tsunade punched Jiraiya in his face before he could hug her. When she pulled her fist away, Jiraiya didn't look like he wanted to hug her anymore, having learned his lesson.  
"It seems like you're still as strong as ever," Jiraiya rubbed his nose.  
"What are you doing here?" Tsunade asked.  
"You sure get to the point, don't you?" Jiraiya asked.  
"Ranma mentioned something about you looking for me," Tsunade said, "What for?"  
"I'm sure you've heard the news about the Third Hokage having died, right?" Jiraiya asked.  
Tsunade nodded, "Yes. Ranma actually told me. It was quite a surprise,"  
"The village elders wish you to take over as the new Hokage," Jiraiya said in a serious voice.  
Tsunade said, "Ranma has mentioned that already,"  
"Gee, Ranma told you everything, hasn't he?" Jiraiya asked.  
"At least all that is important, yes," she said.  
"Have you come to a decision?" Jiraiya asked, hoping it was the right decision.  
"Yes," she said, "I'm going to take over as Hokage,"  
Jiraiya's eyes widened in surprise. That had been a lot easier than he thought. Could she have met Naruto and Naruto had somehow inadvertently convinced her that becoming Hokage was the right choice? "Wow, that was pretty easy," Jiraiya smiled.  
Tsunade smirked, "Don't think I'm doing it because you convinced me. You had nothing to do with my decision. I'm doing it because Naruto reminds me of my brother when he was alive. Seeing him made me realize that if he's willing to go through all that much trouble to improve himself so that, one day, he could become Hokage, it's worth it for me to believe it in as well,"  
"They are alike, aren't they?" Jiraiya asked, "Your brother and Naruto,"  
"Yes," she said, "They are,"  
Jiraiya smiled, "I'm really glad you've decided on this,"  
Tsunade reached into her pocket and pulled out a frog coin bag and took off her necklace. She held it out for Jiraiya to take. The man took it and looked at it curiously.  
"What's this for?" Jiraiya asked, "Why are you giving me this necklace? I'm not into wearing bauble,"  
"No, you idiot," Tsunade said coldly, "They're for Naruto. I made a wager with him earlier in the week that if he could convince me that he has what it takes to become Hokage, I would give him my necklace,"  
Jiraiya looked at the necklace, "You're giving him your necklace? But it's the most important thing you have. It's obvious that it's very precious to you because you've never once considered gambling it away,"  
"It is important to me," Tsunade said, "That's why I want someone like Naruto to have it,"  
Jiraiya said, "Okay. I'll be sure to give it to him and tell him what you told me. Well, now that you're willing to take on the role of Hokage, we should be heading off to Hidden Leaf Village so you can assume to role as soon as possible,"  
Tsunade shook her head, "Not yet. Before I do, there's someone I need to take care of,"  
"Who?" Jiraiya asked.  
"Orochimaru," she answered.  
"What do you plan on doing?" Jiraiya asked.  
"Don't worry about it," she said, "I'll handle him myself,"  
"You know about Naruto, right?" Tsunade asked as they sat around the table, catching up on old times. They had decided to get something to eat shortly after they bumped into one another on the street.  
"Yeah," he nodded, smirking, "I've been actually training him on some things, before Ranma went and basically started training Naruto right out from under my nose. I don't mind. Ranma seems to be a good teacher,"  
"What, you've seen him teach?" Tsunade asked.  
Jiraiya shook his head, "No, but I'm sure his teaching methods are sound. I also noticed Naruto has taken a liking to him. That alone would make it very easy for Naruto to learn quickly from him,"  
Tsunade said, "I have noticed that. It seems like Naruto sees Ranma as a big brother or something along those lines,"  
"It seems so," Jiraiya said.  
"Where did Ranma come from?" Shizune asked curiously, "He's really strong and it seems odd how someone could become so strong without us at least hearing something about him,"  
Jiraiya said, "Well, that's the strange part. No one knows where he came from. We actually have reason to believe he's a summon,"  
"What?" Tsunade and Shizune said, "A summon?"  
"During his Chuunin exam," Jiraiya said, "I have reason to believe that Naruto go desperate and tried to summon Gamabunta, but ended up summoning Ranma by accident,"  
Tsunade's eyes widened, "What? He can summon Gamabunta?"  
Gamabunta was a giant and extremely powerful frog. Jiraiya and the Fourth Hokage were the only people known that could summon Gamabunta.  
"Yeah," Jiraiya nodded, "It would seem odd if he was trying to summon Gamabunta. Gamabunta's so large that he wouldn't be able to even fit in the stadium where the Chuunin exams took place,"  
Tsunade smirked, "It seems like Naruto is full of surprises. That kid seems to constantly surprise me,"  
"Oh?" Jiraiya perked an eyebrow, "I assume he didn't do something along the lines of summon Gamabunta since you seemed surprised to hear about it. What did he do to surprise even you?"  
"His rate of progress surprises me," Tsunade said, "I've never seen someone grow so much in such a short period of time.  
Jiraiya smirked, "Naruto is a really special kid, it seems. He's really bright,"  
"So, Naruto took part in the Chuunin exams, huh?" Tsunade smirked, "Considering where Naruto is now with his progression, it won't be a surprise that he would be capable of taking the Jounin exams,"  
"What?" Jiraiya said in surprise, "Naruto? A Jounin? The kid is bright. He has some special talents, but a Jounin? That's rather farfetched,"  
Tsunade smirked, "Check him out then. You'll be in for a surprise,"  
"Okay, let's say that Naruto can be considered at a Jounin level," Jiraiya said hypothetically, "What kind of teacher can Ranma be to bring forth something like this in the boy?"  
Tsunade smirked, "I don't know, but if you decide to fight against him, you're going to lose. This Ranma person seems well beyond Jounin level,"  
Jiraiya said, "So what are you saying? That Ranma is strong enough to be Hokage?"  
Tsunade shrugged, "Perhaps,"  
Jiraiya scratched his chin, "Hm, I guess I shouldn't be surprised,"  
"Why do you say that?" Tsunade asked.  
"He defeated Shuukaku by himself," Jiraiya said, "I watched him from a safe distance and saw him beat him completely by himself. From what I heard, this boy named Gaara had Shuukaku sealed within him. During the Chuunin exam, he transformed into Shuukaku,"  
Tsunade said, "Shuukaku? He defeated Shuukaku by himself?"  
Jiraiya nodded, "Yes. It's very surprising. I was about to summon Gamabunta to help out with the fight, but when I saw Ranma holding his own against Shuukaku, I stayed back. To my surprise, I saw Ranma beat the monster,"  
Tsunade said nothing, stunned speechless. "Ranma's a very strong individual it seems," Jiraiya said, "He's also very tough. I've seen him get crushed under that monster when it rolled over him and he got back up like it didn't face him. For him to get up from something like that, it makes me wonder what could possibly hurt him?"  
Tsunade said, "That's a good question. He took two of my strongest open-palm strikes right to the chest and didn't even fall down to one knee,"  
"Wait, why would you go and do something like that?" Jiraiya asked, "Were you trying to kill him? He survived TWO of those attacks? How's that possible?"  
Tsunade waved a dismissive hand, "Yes. It was all a misunderstanding. My fault actually,"  
"Care to explain?" Jiraiya asked, "I know you have a short temper, but for you to try and use something like that, you must have been seriously ticked off,"  
"Hmph!" Tsunade snorted, "Yeah, I was angry. I had my reasons. I don't care to get into it,"  
Jiraiya smirked, "What you're bringing up is very interesting. Here we have Ranma, a person that seems to be at a Hokage level, training Naruto,"  
"If you see Naruto, I'm sure you'll be surprised at how much he has progressed," Tsunade stated, "I've seen a huge improvement in him over the past few days,"  
Jiraiya scratched his head, "I wonder what Ranma's agenda is. Why is he training Naruto in the first place?"  
Tsunade said, "Naruto is being chased by Uchiha Itachi. My guess would be Itachi's interested in harnessing the power of the Nine-Tails demon sealed within the boy,"  
"Itachi? I know of him," Jiraiya said, "He's an S-Class criminal and is very dangerous,"  
Tsunade said, "Well, it seems like Ranma has taken it upon himself to train Naruto so that he may one day protect himself from people like Itachi,"  
"I don't mean to question how bright a boy Naruto is, but for him to be able to defend himself against someone like that of Itachi, it seems like Ranma will be training him for a long time,"  
Tsunade smirked, "Go check them out then. At the rate Naruto is growing, it won't be long before Ranma's goal of training Naruto to defend himself against people like Itachi would be realized. Heck, I'd give him a few weeks, tops, before Naruto would be able to deal with the likes of us,"  
Jiraiya smirked.  
"You know what? Your praise of Naruto really intrigues me. I'm going to go check them out and see how Naruto is coming along with his training,"  
Jiraiya approached the clearing.  
After having talking to Tsunade and Shizune and getting something to eat with them, he had decided to go check up on Ranma and Naruto. Curiosity was getting the better of him and he had to see for himself the praise Tsunade had given on Naruto.  
"Ah, there they are," Jiraiya said when he spotted Ranma and Naruto circling one another.  
He noticed that neither of them seemed to have noticed his presence. If they had, they did a good job at acting like they weren't aware of him. Glancing over toward the side, he saw a large boulder and decided to use that as a seat to watch.  
He noticed several broken trees nearby and was curious as to what had caused them. It looked as if something had crashed into several trees and simply crashed right through them.  
After a moment, he dismissed the thought as to what had caused that and looked toward Ranma and Naruto.  
"All right, let's see how much Naruto has grown since I last saw him training," Jiraiya said to himself with a smile.  
A short distance away, he watched Naruto and Ranma faced one another, seemingly sizing one another up.  
"Ranma's strong," Jiraiya said to himself, "It seems like they're going to spar. I wonder how much Ranma will hold back,"  
He watched as Naruto yelled out a battle cry as he dashed toward Ranma, his speed seemingly slower from what Jiraiya last remember. He kicked out a few times as Ranma smirked and casually dodged each attack with little effort.  
"Good," he heard Ranma praise the young boy, "Good form! Keep attacking!"  
"I'll hit you yet!" Naruto continued to attack viciously.  
"Why is Naruto only using Taijitsu?" Jiraiya wondered why Naruto was trying to attack Ranma with just his hands and feet. Taijitsu was the terms used when referring to hand-to-hand attacks.  
"My turn," he heard Ranma said, deflecting one of Naruto's incoming attacks, causing Naruto to stagger a bit, trying to regain his balance.  
Jiraiya watched as Ranma suddenly dashed toward Naruto, the ground below his feet kicking up from the force of him breaking out into a full sprint, punching Naruto in the face.  
Naruto had been unable react to Ranma's speed, only able to raise his arms up partially in an attempt to block the attack. Naruto didn't manage to lift his arms anywhere above the height of his collarbones before he was struck with the devastating force behind Ranma's punch.  
Jiraiya's jaw nearly dropped to the ground as he saw Naruto go flying bodily through the air where he crashed through several trees, eventually bouncing off one and falling down to the ground where he landed on his hands and knees.  
"Oh my God! Jiraiya gasped, "Naruto's still standing!"  
From Jiraiya's point of view, Naruto should have been killed. The sight of Naruto still standing seemed surreal, like it was not humanly possible.  
His eyes widened even more as he saw Naruto shake the cobwebs from his hands before running straight toward Ranma with renewed energy, attacking at him just as viciously as before.  
This confused Jiraiya because only even he himself would be unable to get up that quickly and resume fighting that quickly. Sustaining a punch like that, a punch hard enough to send him crashing through several tree, could easily knock him out or perhaps even kill him.  
Jiraiya found himself staring, mouth agape the whole time as Naruto continued to attack, only to get counter attacked after several attack and sent flying through the air where he crashed through several more trees, only to charge at Ranma and continue fighting.  
After watching this for a few moments, Jiraiya realized his mouth had been wide open the whole time.  
"How the hell did Naruto get so tough?"

new stuff 1/5

"Chakra from your outside surrounding?" Jiraiya asked, "And why do you keep calling it ki? It'll create confusion since we're referring to the same thing but using different terms for it,"  
"Sorry, but I'm not calling it chakra," Ranma said, "You can call it chakra instead of ki. I don't mind. Anyway, getting ki from your surrounding's how you go about getting the power to shoot ki-blasts. It seems like the people around here aren't aware that there's two forms of ki,"  
"It's news to me," Jiraiya said, "Can you elaborate on it?"  
"It's nothing more than a form of steady breathing," Ranma said, "As well as keeping your mind free of distractions. Keeping it clear or thinking of something like a waterfall or a quiet stream usually works,"  
Jiraiya asked, "Care to show a demonstration?"  
Ranma turned toward Naruto, "Naruto, how about you do it?"  
"Me?" Naruto pointed to himself, "Are you sure? Aside from that one before, I haven't come close to shooting one yet,"  
"You don't hafta shoot a ki-blast to get the point across to Jiraiya," Ranma said, "Just do it. Just meditate while standing,"  
"Okay," Naruto said.  
Jiraiya watched as Naruto cupped his hands and closed his eyes, taking steady breaths. He watched curiously, intently, for several minutes.  
"What am I supposed to see?" he asked.  
"Just watch," Ranma said. He held an open hand in front of him where a blue aura started to form around his hand, making it seemed like his own hand was on fire, the fire blue. Jiraiya's eyes widened at the sight of that. He could also feel this overwhelming feeling of power coming from the young man as Ranma's hand continued to glow.  
"Look," Ranma said, pointing toward his own hand, "Right now, I'm making my ki visible on my hand. If you look carefully enough, you can tell that the ki doesn't remain fixed on my hand,"  
The visible ki surrounding his hand could be seen as it seemed to escape the aura surrounding his hand and flow from his hand and toward Naruto, disappearing into his body.  
"Incredible," Jiraiya said, more impressed at how easily Ranma was able to make his ki visible instead of the sight of the ki flowing into Naruto.  
"Alright, you can stop now," Ranma said to Naruto after a minute.  
Naruto stopped and opened his eyes, wondering what the reason for stopping was. When found himself surprised when he saw a glowing aura on Ranma's hand momentarily before it disappeared, Ranma putting his hand back down and by his side.  
"What were you showing him?" Naruto asked.  
"I was showing him how the ki was flowing from my hand and into your body," Ranma said, "You didn't see it because you had your eyes closed and were busy concentrating,"  
"Oh man, I wanna see it," Naruto complained.  
"Maybe another day, when you get used to drawing in ki without the real need to concentrate," Ranma smiled. He turned toward Jiraiya, "That, what you saw there, is the drawing in of ki. It's much different, drawing in ki from your surroundings than what you're used to, bringing ki outward from within your body,"  
Jiraiya seemed skeptic, "As incredible as it may seem, what are the benefits?"  
"It's limitless," Ranma said, "You don't get tired using this form of ki,"  
"Interesting," Jiraiya said, "Very interesting,"  
Jiraiya suddenly remembered something.  
He reached in his pocket and produced the necklace and frog coin bag and held it out for Naruto "What's this?" Naruto asked.  
"These are yours," Jiraiya said, smiling.  
Naruto looked at the necklace, "Hey, isn't this that necklace Tsunade wears?"  
Ranma looked at it and said, "Yeah, I recognize it,"  
"She wants you to have it," Jiraiya stated.  
"Why's she giving it to me?" Naruto asked, "And why's she giving me back my frog coin bag back? Ah!"  
"What?" Jiraiya asked.  
"She spent all the money in my frog coin bag!" Naruto realized there were no coins left in the bag.  
Jiraiya chuckled, "Heh, that's Tsunade for ya. I guess I shouldn't be surprised,"  
"I've been doing this because I wanted my money back!" Naruto said, "What's the use of having it back now when she took all of it?"  
Ranma burst out laughing. That was just too funny to ignore. Naruto glared at Ranma.  
"Ooh, he's glaring at me," Ranma pretended to be scared, "I better watch out,"  
"Hmph!" Naruto said.  
"I'm sorry about Tsunade taking your money, but Tsunade has trouble not taking money, even if it isn't hers," Jiraiya said. Ranma scratched his head, "I kinda makes me wonder why she didn't readily accept the money offered to her right away,"  
"She has no problem taking money that doesn't belong to her," Jiraiya said, "But I think she has problems accepting charity,"  
Ranma smirked. It seemed like Tsunade and here were alike. He himself didn't like accepting charity while he had no problems taking it from someone else.  
"I still don't understand," Naruto said, "How come she's giving these to me?"  
"It seems like you've won the wager," Jiraiya smiled, "She acknowledges that you have what it takes to become Hokage one day and this is basically her letting you know,"  
Naruto looked at the necklace in his hand. He felt cheated out of his win. He wanted to meet up with Tsunade and show her how much he had improved over the course of the week.  
"What a gyp," the boy said.

"You're learning really well," Ranma smiled as he and Naruto walked down the street, "Before long, you'll definitely be shooting ki-blasts left and right,"  
Jiraiya wasn't with them. After having hung around and talked with Ranma and Naruto for a bit, he had decided it was best he leave them to their training and be off, to go find Tsunade.  
"How do you know?" Naruto asked, "I haven't shot a ki-blast since that day when you gave me all that chakra and you said I shot some kinda super-duper killer ki-blast. What was it called? It started with an 'S'"  
"Seppukku Mouko Takabisha," Ranma answered, "I don't need to see you shooting ki-blasts to know that you'll be capable of doing so. This training will help you out so that you'll be able to do so on the very first try,"  
Naruto smiled happily, "I can't wait,"  
"Heh, before long, I'm gonna hafta teach you some new technique," Ranma chuckled.  
"Awesome," Naruto said, "I wanna learn something new,"  
"But you're gonna hafta wait until you're ready to do so," Ranma said, "You're not ready to start learning new stuff until a while down the road so don't get all excited and stuff,"  
"What can you teach me?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma shrugged, "Tons of stuff. I probably forgot more techniques than people here can even remember,"  
Naruto said, "I dunno about that. Kakashi, my old sensei before Jiraiya started training me, knows over a thousand techniques,"  
Ranma perked and eyebrow, "Over a thousand techniques? Y'don't say,"  
"That's what I heard," Naruto said, "I've never seen more than a dozen techniques at most, but I wouldn't be surprised if he knew more than that. He known as 'Copy-Ninja Kakashi',"  
"So he's good at emulating stuff?" Ranma smirked.  
"He has the Sharingan," Naruto answered, "And he's used that countless times to remember other people's techniques,"  
"Cool," Ranma said.  
"So, you still think you've forgotten more than a thousand techniques?" Naruto smirked.  
"Oh yeah, I have," Ranma grinned back, "I've forgotten more stuff than people can ever believe they could remember,"  
"What?" Naruto asked. "Forget it," Ranma chuckled, "It's not important,"  
"So, what new technique do you think would be a good technique for me to learn next?" Naruto asked curiously.  
Ranma scratched his chin for a moment, "Hm, I'm not too sure. Ki-blasts are very useful and are kinda all-purpose. You can do really well just knowing that technique,"  
Naruto said, "C'mon. Surely there must be something else you can show me,"  
"Hm, how about The Big-O?" Ranma grinned.  
"The Big-O?" Naruto asked, "What the heck is that?"  
"It's a really useful technique," Ranma said, "Works really well. It only works on girls though,"  
"But 'The Big-O'? What kinda name is that for a technique?" Naruto said, "And why does it only work on girls? I don't wanna know something like that, whatever it is. What if my opponent is a guy?"  
"Then you won't be able to use it," Ranma said, "It doesn't work on guys,"  
Naruto said, "Then I don't wanna learn it," Naruto said, "I wanna know something like ki-blasts, where it could work on guys and girls and even monsters. Besides, The Big-O sounds kinda stupid,"  
"You shouldn't judge a technique by its name," Ranma smirked, "It might come in handy later one, when you get older,"  
"So would ki-blasts, but ki-blasts work on guys and girls and monsters," Naruto said.  
"Okay, suit yourself," Ranma shrugged, "Hm, how about the Bakusai Tenketsu? That's really useful,"  
"Isn't that the one where you jam your finger in the ground and the ground below your opponent blows up?" Naruto asked.  
"More or less, yeah," Ranma said.  
"Yeah, I wanna learn that," Naruto said.  
"Y'sure you don't wanna learn The Big-O?" Ranma asked, smirking.  
"Nah, it sounds stupid," Naruto said, "I wanna learn the Bakusai Tenketsu instead,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Okay. Have it your way," "Cool, I can't wait to learn it," Naruto smiled happily.  
"Not right away," Ranma said, "I'll show you how to do the Bakusai Tenketsu another day, when you're ready to start learning it,"  
"I understand," Naruto nodded, "And I look forward to that day,"  
"C'mon, let's get some food," Ranma said.  
Naruto followed happily next to him as they walked down the street.  
Ranma smirked as he realized something.  
Heh, I guess The Big-O technique will go with me to my grave when that day comes. Ranma noticed Naruto seemed depressed all of a sudden.  
"Something th'matter?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto subconsciously touched the necklace that was on around his neck, "Not really. It's just that I'm kinda disappointed that I can't show Tsunade my improvement at the end of the week,"  
"Hey," Ranma said, "There's no reason for us to stay around anymore. You won the wager. You kept your end of the deal, that you would make her acknowledge that you have the potential to become Hokage,"  
Naruto said, "I know, but I kinda wanna hang around and show her regardless,"  
"In case you're wondering, you won a wager you shouldn'tve won," Ranma smirked.  
"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked. "You said that you would shoot a ki-blast by the end of the week," Ranma smirked, "Guess what? You're no closer to shooting a ki-blast now than before,"  
"But I already shot a ki-blast," Naruto said.  
"With my ki, yes," Ranma said, "You don't have the necessary ki reserves to shoot a ki-blast. Even if you meditate all the way until you feel like you're gonna explode and try and shoot a ki-blast, you probably won't be able to shoot one anyway,"  
Naruto said, "You said you learned that Mouko Takabisha of yours on your own in, what, three days? How can I not know how to do it when you're training me every step of the way and I've been at it for a week,"  
"Because, you need to take into account that you have no experience with drawing in ki," Ranma said, "I've been training all my life and have a firm grasp on meditating and such. That's the thing you need to realize, that I already had the foundation for shooting a ki-blast when I tried to learn it on my own. You don't and we're working on that,"  
"Oh," Naruto said.  
Ranma said, "Look, that doesn't really matter. You've managed to convince Tsunade your abilities. You walked away from this wager from with your pride intact,"  
Naruto said softly, "How come I don't feel proud about this then?"  
Ranma regarded Naruto, smiling. It seemed like Naruto was growing right before his eyes. The young boy didn't seem as arrogant and loud as he was not even a week ago.  
"Because, you're growing up," Ranma smirked.  
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.  
"You're growing up," Ranma said, "You're starting to think more like an adult instead of some child,"  
"But I am a child," Naruto said.  
Ranma said, "So? Look at me. I'm considered a child. Even if I look young, the way you act and think is what really matters. You feeling bad about having won that wager like that, when you know you should've lost, means you're growing up and starting to think like an adult. And that you're able to see the broader picture,"  
Naruto said, "So what does that mean?"  
"It means nothing," Ranma said, "It just means that you're starting to mature. Most kids your age would probably just happily accept the necklace as a token of their winning the bet, without having second thought about them not really deserving it. Because you seem hesitant about accepting it, it means you see more than what most kids your age would see,"  
Naruto said nothing. He took off the necklace.  
"I wanna give this back to Tsunade," Naruto stated.  
"You wanna give it back?" Ranma asked, "Why?"  
"Because, if I don't deserve it, then I don't want it," Naruto said, "I wanna earn it fair and square,"  
Ranma smirked, "So what do you propose?"  
"Can we hang around longer?" Naruto asked.  
"Huh?" Ranma asked, "Stay longer? You mean here? There's really no reason for us to stay,"  
"Can we just stay for a few more days?" Naruto asked, "I wanna try my hardest to learn to throw a ki-blast at the end of the week. That way, I can either earn the necklace, or at least fail trying. I would much rather fail trying than to get something I don't deserve,"  
Ranma smiled. "Heh, you're sounding more adult by the minute,"

new stuff 1/7

"Hey, look, there're the girls," Ranma pointed down the street.  
Shizune and Tsunade could be seen as they walked down the street together. Tsunade was walking her pig while Shizune was struggling in carrying a half-full bag of coins.

"Heh, it seems like Tsunade has lots more than half the money we won and gave her gambling," Ranma chuckled when he noticed how empty the bag of coins looked as Shizune carried it.  
"Let's go ask them to get some food with us," Ranma said Naruto watched as Ranma ran off to approach the girls. He watched as Ranma snuck up on both girls and slapped them both on their butts. They yelped in surprise when Ranma did it and whirled around to face him, their faces scowling toward him.  
How the hell did he manage to sneak up on us like that, Tsunade thought as she eyed Ranma coldly.  
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right here where you stand?" Tsunade sneered, not one bit amused.  
"Sheesh," Ranma said, "You'd figure people would at least be more tolerant of someone after they give 'em a whole load of money without asking anything back,"  
Tsunade let out a snort.  
"You're a jerk, Ranma!" Shizune said.  
"C'mon," Ranma said, "Quit having your panties up in a bunch. It's just a playful slap,"  
"What's with you and panties?" Shizune said, narrowing her eyes toward Ranma, "Are you really that perverted?"  
"It's a form of expression," Ranma said, "Y'know what? Forget it. What are you girls doing?"  
"Why do you care?" Tsunade asked.  
"Naruto and I are gonna go get some food," Ranma said, jerking a thumb toward Naruto as he approached the group, "Wanna join us?"  
"Not particularly," Tsunade said, at least not with Ranma. She didn't particularly like him all that much. Something about him really irked him. Sure, he was a walking good luck charm and could most likely win her a lot of money gambling, but she didn't particularly care about dealing with that whimsical personality of his.  
Ranma shrugged, "Okay. Suit yourself,"  
Tsunade's stomach rumbled. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Shizune snickered which didn't seem to help all that much.  
"Hey, Naruto," Tsunade smiled at the young boy, wanting the distraction.  
"Hey," Naruto said. He reached into his pocket and took out the necklace given to him by Jiraiya. He held it out for Tsunade to take.  
"What's this for?" she asked curiously.  
"I wanna give these back," Naruto said.  
Ranma smirked.  
"I don't deserve 'em," Naruto said.  
"Oh, you do," she said, "After seeing how much you've improved over the past few days, I've come to realize that you really do have the potential to eventually become Hokage. I acknowledge your potential and my giving you the necklace is my way of showing it. You've upheld your end of the deal so I'm upholding my end of the deal and giving what rightly belongs to you,"  
Naruto shook his head, "No. The deal was that I shoot a ki-blast at the end of the week. Just because it looked like I have improved a lot, I still haven't shown it to you like I had promise,"  
Tsunade smirked, "That's awfully mature of you to think like that, but there's no need. The idea of the bet was to see how much you'll improve in such a short span of time,"  
"No it wasn't," Naruto retorted, "It was to see if I've improved enough to shoot a ki-blast,"  
Tsunade said nothing. Naruto did have a point.  
"So, can you shoot one yet?" Tsunade asked curiously.  
"No," Naruto said honestly, "And I don't know if I will at the end of the week, but I would rather lose the bet trying than to have won it when I didn't deserve to have won it,"  
Shizune said, "Why would you say something like that? Don't you understand how important that necklace is to Tsunade? For you to want to give it back, that's like an insult,"  
"I didn't earn it," Naruto said seriously, "I will only accept it if I earned it,"  
Shizune and Tsunade looked at one another.  
Naruto held out the necklace for Tsunade to take.  
After a moment, she reached out and took it.  
"All right," Tsunade smiled, "At the end of the week, we will see if you can shoot a ki-blast like we had originally agreed upon. If you don't, I'm going to be keeping my necklace,"  
Naruto produced the frog coin bag and held it out for her to take.  
"And all my money as well,"  
"I'm proud of you, Naruto," Ranma said as he and Naruto sat around a table in some random restaurant, "Realizing that you didn't earn what was given to you,"  
Tsunade and Shizune didn't end up eating with them, having decided to go eat elsewhere. Ranma had a funny feeling that she didn't particularly care about being around Ranma and would rather avoid him if possible. While Shizune didn't seem to particularly like nor dislike Ranma, she would rather go along with Tsunade's plans to eat elsewhere.  
Naruto shrugged, "I would rather lose trying than to get something I didn't earn,"  
Ranma said, "That's good,"  
"Are you sure you don't mind hanging around and training me until the end of the week?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma shook his head, "No. Something like this is important to you. As much as I would like to get on with my journey East and toward Hidden Mist Village, something like this I don't mind hanging around for a little bit longer. It's only a couple of days anyway. If I had to hang around here for several days, that would've been a different story,"  
"Um, do you think I'll be able to do it by week's end?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma shrugged.  
"I have no idea,"

Late at night, on the night before Ranma and Naruto were expected to meet up with Tsunade, two lone figures stood side by side as they stood by the training grounds where Ranma and Naruto had been training all this time.  
"Orochimaru, I think having an alliance with Itachi is a bad idea," the man standing next to him. He was known as Kabuto, a very skilled ninja that was basically Orochimaru's right-hand man. "Itachi is a very strong young man," Kabuto added, "I dare to say that he's even stronger than you. Don't let his young age fool you. And because of your battle with the Hokage and you now having very limited use of your arms, you are at a serious disadvantage. You haven't fully healed yet from that battle and that operation I performed on you with transplanting your arms is only temporary,"  
"I understand, Kabuto," Orochimaru said in a very cold voice, "But I'm willing to take the risks of making such an alliance. The benefits from this alliance far outweigh the risks,"  
"What is your plan?" Kabuto asked, "Why do you intend to form an alliance with someone like Itachi anyway?"  
Orochimaru said, "I'm not so unaware of the organization Itachi is apart of and their interest in Naruto. Itachi is seeking Naruto. However, it's clear that he and his associate have not found him yet,"  
"But I still don't understand why you would want to tell him in the first place," Kabuto was confused.  
"Tsunade plans on betraying me," Orochimaru said, "She has no intention of healing my arms in exchange that I bring back to life her loved ones,"  
"What makes you say that?" Kabuto asked, "She looked as if she was ready to accept your offer there on the spot when we approached her last week,"  
Orochimaru said, "She might have taken my offer, but things have now gotten more complicated now that Naruto and Jiraiya have come into the picture. Jiraiya and Tsunade have something up their sleeves. If I have to face them alone, I'm in trouble, especially with these virtually useless arms of mine,"  
"So that's why you want to ally yourself with Itachi?" Kabuto asked, "To even the odds?"  
"I'm in no worry of dealing with Tsunade since she suffers from the 'Terrible Blood Disease'," Orochimaru stated, "The sight of blood will make her unable to function because it will bring back all those horrible memories of her past and how her loved ones were killed," Orochimaru laughed, "What a pathetic weakness she has. To think that someone like her, one of the Three Legendary Ninjas, could possess such a weakness and become this powerful. With her unable to fight, all I have to worry about is Jiraiya,"  
Kabuto said, "Oh, I get it. Your alliance with Itachi is to provide you with an advantage against Jiraiya. If you had to fight Jiraiya alone, you would be in trouble, what with your arms and such. But if you have Itachi, and Kisame is with him, helping out, then it'll be in your favor,"  
Orochimaru nodded, "Yes,"  
"What do you want me to do?" Kabuto asked curiously.  
"Your job is to distract Naruto," Orochimaru said, "Naruto isn't aware that you're with me and that you're a spy. Since you helped Naruto out in the Chuunin exams a few months ago, he actually thinks you're his friend. I want you to approach him and keep him distracted long enough so Itachi and Kisame and I can take care of Tsunade and Jiraiya,"  
Kabuto said, "And what about Shizune?"  
"She will most likely be with Tsunade and Jiraiya," Orochimaru said, "I'm sure someone like Kisame would be more than a match for her,"  
"And what about Ranma?" Kabuto asked, "He is with Naruto,"  
"Stay away from him," Orochimaru said, "He's a very perceptive individual,"  
"And a very strong one," Kabuto added, "I saw him take out the monster Gaara turned into back at Hidden Leaf Village by himself. Should he stumbled you battle against Jiraiya and Tsunade, it would be very troublesome,"  
"That is where you job comes in," Orochimaru said, "Merely distract Naruto. Where he goes, Ranma is sure to follow. If you must, take them out to get something to eat,"  
Kabuto smirked, "That sounds like a good idea. Naruto seems to have a taste for ramen. It should not be hard to distract him with something like that,"  
Orochimaru said, "When we are through dealing with Tsunade and Jiraiya, I'll uphold my end of the alliance and tell Itachi to head to the village square where Naruto can be found. All you have to do is bring Naruto there,"  
"But Itachi wants Naruto so he can harness the power of the Nine-Tails for himself and his organization," Kabuto said, "If that happens, Itachi will become even more powerful than he already is,"  
Orochimaru smiled, "It won't be quite that easy for him. Afterall, Ranma will be accompanying Naruto,"  
"Oh, I get it," Kabuto smirked.  
Orochimaru smirked, "I want Itachi's help dealing with Jiraiya. Itachi wants Naruto. Our alliance will be Itachi helping me out in exchange that we bring Naruto to him. We will be upholding our end of the deal. It's not our fault that Itachi will have to deal with Ranma since he will be with Naruto as well,"

new stuff 1/8

Ranma stretched as he woke up early in the morning.  
"Morning," Naruto said, grinning as he stood near the foot of Ranma's bed.  
"Why're you grinning?" Ranma asked, rubbing his eyes, "You get off on watching a dude sleep or something?"  
Naruto shouted, "No! I just happen to be up before you for a change,"  
"So?" Ranma shrugged, "You want a cookie or something? I didn't realize we were having a contest on who would wake up first,"  
Naruto let out an annoyed breath. All that time Ranma had been waking up before him that Naruto wanted to be up before Ranma for a change. However, he never realized Ranma could easily dismiss that accomplishment with a casual comment.  
"Today you're supposed to meet up with Tsunade and Shizune and show 'em if you can do a ki-blast or not," Ranma said.  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. I dunno know where we're supposed to meet them though,"  
"In front of the restaurant where we first met 'em," Ranma said, "At around noontime,"  
"Do you think I'll be able to do it?" Naruto asked, "I've yet to shoot a ki-  
blast yet, afterall,"  
Ranma said, "I'm not too sure. When noontime comes around, we'll just take a go at shooting a single a ki-blast, without my giving you my own ki. You already know how to shoot a ki-blast. The problem is drawing in enough ki to do so. Your ki reserves is too small for your ki-blast to be seen or even useful,"  
Naruto sighed, "I know. Well, with the amount of chakra I can draw in, what can I do?"  
"Dunno, perhaps create enough of a disturbance in the air in front of you to perhaps blow out a candle," Ranma shrugged.  
Naruto asked, "But didn't I come close to shooting a ki-blast before when I was fighting Tsunade, or at least trying to? You looked all surprised like you were about to see me to shoot,"  
"No, you've got it wrong," Ranma said, "What surprised me is how you drew in ki from your surroundings so quickly, not because it looked like you were gonna shoot a ki-blast,"  
"Really?" he asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, how quickly you drew it in was what shocked me. The ki-  
blast you almost shot wasn't what really surprised me. Actually, it did surprise me, but not because it looked like you had picked up on how to shoot a ki-blast within a day of my trying to show you,"  
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "Actually, the ki-blast that it seemed like you were going to shoot seemed like it consisted of the ki from within you. Actually, if I think about what had happened that day, I'm surprised I never mentioned it to ya,"  
"Whatcha mean?" Naruto scratched at his head.  
"You drew in ki from your surroundings really quickly," he said, "But as you did, it seems like the ki building up in your hand was actually a combination of both the ki from with and ki from without. That's different from what I do, where I use ki from my surroundings,"  
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Naruto asked.  
"Neither actually," Ranma said, "If you use just the ki from within, you'd get really tired really quickly. Actually, shooting just one like that will probably exhaust you. Had you shot just the ki that you took in at the moment, you wouldn't hafta worry about getting tired. However, because it was a combination of both, you can probably shoot a couple before you become exhausted,"  
"Oh," Naruto said, "Does that mean I'm actually able to shoot ki-blasts?"  
"Yeah, but not the one I'm trying to teach you," Ranma said, "If try really hard, like what you were doing then, you can probably shoot one but you'd probably end up really tired,"  
Naruto's eyes widened, "If I managed to shot one like that day, how powerful would it've been?"  
"Not too powerful," Ranma said, "At least not by ki-blast standards and how powerful they have the potential of becoming. If someone got hit with it, it'd probably knock a person out for a while but not necessarily kill him,"  
"Wow!" Naruto said, "Why didn't you mention that before?"  
Ranma said, "Because, it's not what I've been trying to teach you all this time. If you resort to using one, and you miss, you're screwed because you'll be out most of your energy,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"If you want to develop something like, some kinda last resort technique, then go right ahead," Ranma smirked, "But from my point of view, why? Resorting to some kinda last ditch technique that will exhaust you if you miss seems useless. A last ditch technique should not be something that will exhaust you if you miss. Heck, if I think about it, the only last-ditch technique that should ever exist is one that kills you if you use it. Anyway, if you can have something that you can use without getting tired doing so, why not use that technique instead of using a flawed version of it where you'd get tired using it,"  
"So what you're saying that, had I shot that ki-blast, it would've been a flawed version of the ki-blast you're trying to teach me?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "Afterall, why bother using a flawed version of a technique when you can use the flawless version of it,"  
"So, what you're saying is that I already can shoot ki-blasts?" Naruto asked.  
"Yes, but not the ki-blast I'm trying to show you,"  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto shouted, extended his hands toward Ranma.  
A ki-blast no larger than a foot in diameter shot out from Naruto's extended hand and straight toward Ranma. It flew straight toward Ranma where Ranma stuck a finger out and basically poked it with an index finger, the ki-blast mysteriously shattering and evaporating into nothing.  
Naruto dropped down to one knee, gasping for breath, feeling a great sense of disorientation.  
"Not bad," Ranma said, "You managed to do shoot a ki-blast on your first try. However, I'm not all that surprised because I saw that you had the potential to shoot a ki-blast a week again when you were going against Tsunade,"  
"I don't feel so good," Naruto's world was spinning, keeling over so that he was on his hands and knees.  
"Lie down," Ranma said, "You've basically used up all your ki in that one blast," Naruto did as he was told, lying down on the ground. He and Ranma were back at their training ground. Naruto had wanted to give shooting a ki-blast a try and Ranma had decided to allow Naruto to do so. Of course, Naruto never bothered to try shooting a ki-blast by drawing in ki from his surroundings, instead, did so by drawing out the ki from within him.  
It took a minute of resting before Naruto asked, "H-how powerful was that ki-  
blast?"  
"Just powerful enough to be seen by the naked eye," Ranma grinned, "If it hit someone, it'd probably hurt no more than a regular punch,"  
"That's it?" Naruto said, disappointed in himself.  
"What, you expect to be able to kill someone with it or such?" Ranma asked, "This is the first time you ever shot a ki-blast. Of course it's really weak. You simply need practice,"  
"Man, I feel so tired," Naruto said, "I feel drained, like all my chakra is gone,"  
Ranma smirked, "I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case,"  
"I figure it would've at least been somewhat powerful," Naruto said, "If it drains me that much and it hurts no more than a single punch, I'd be better off just saving myself all that chakra and just punching my opponent instead,"  
Ranma said, "Yeah, that would be the better choice, at least for now, that is, if you intend to sticking it out and shooting ki-blasts using the ki from within instead of drawing in the ki from your surroundings like I've been teaching you,"  
"Why's it so weak?" Naruto asked, "I used up all my chakra shooting one. How can I was so much chakra shooting something so weak? I know I have a lot of chakra. Maybe people have mentioned that. But how can so much chakra equal to something so weak?"  
Ranma smiled, "Oh, that's because most of the ki went to projecting the ki-  
blast forward and away from your body. If you actually focus all the ki within your body out to your hands but not actually try and shoot it forward, it would be much more powerful. It takes a whole lotta ki to give the ki-blast shape so that it can travel through the air instead of just disappearing,"  
Naruto sighed.  
"Heh, like I said many times before, shooting ki-blasts isn't an easy task," Ranma grinned, "Of course, doing so the way you're doing it is much harder on yourself since you're actually physically tiring yourself out this way. If you draw in ki, you won't get tired, that is, not unless you accidentally shoot out some of your internal ki along with the external ki you draw in,"  
"But you said I can't draw in enough ki to shoot ki-blasts, that my can't accept enough to shoot on," Naruto said.  
"Therein lies the problem," Ranma smiled, "You hafta train to get yourself up to be able to do that. Now you understand why I never bothered to let you practice shooting ki-blasts, because it's kinda moot practicing in shooting ki-  
blasts when you're body's not really physically capable of doing so, at least not yet,"  
"Man, I feel completely outta chakra," Naruto stated. Ranma just smiled, "That's because you are,"  
"Ah, I should try and summon Gamabunta!" Naruto said, coming up with an idea.  
"Gamabunta?" Ranma asked, "Who or what is that?"  
Naruto slowly got back up to his feet. This surprised Ranma a bit.  
Hm, It seems like Naruto recovers really well, Ranma thought. I guess he recovers internal ki much faster than normal people. He was virtually all out of ki just a minute ago and now, he has already recovered enough to get stand back up.  
Standing back up, Naruto staggered a bit before he fell back down to the ground.  
"Whatcha trying to do?" Ranma asked, "What's this 'summon Gamabunta' thing you mentioned?"  
Naruto took a minute to rest, "Jiraiya showed me how to summon. In order to summon something, I need to use up all my chakra. Only then will I be able to summon Gamabunta. Gamabunta's this really large frog. He's probably just as big as that monster Gaara had turned into over a week ago,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "A giant frog? What's so useful about summoning a giant frog? Transportation?"  
"No!" Naruto said, "Gamabunta is a very strong creature. I'll show you, if I can summon him,"  
Ranma smirked as he watched Naruto try to get back up to his feet. He watched as the young boy bit his thumb and then did several gestures with his hands, creating seals similar to the one he used to create clones of himself.  
"Summoning no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, slapping the ground in front of him.  
Ranma briefly saw some marking expand outward from Naruto's hand on the ground before him, as if the seals Naruto had made with his hand had somehow took on visible form on the ground before as a big puff of smoke appeared around Naruto's grounded hand.  
When Naruto pulled his hand back, it revealed a cute green frog. The frog was tiny, not larger than a Naruto's hand. It croaked a few times as it just sat there, seemingly oblivious to its surroundings.  
Ranma got low and looked at the frog, "Is this it?"  
"No!" Naruto quickly stated, "I dunno what happened. This is just some regular frog. Gamabunta is huge, like the size of the stadium where I was fighting in back at Hidden Leaf Village,"  
"Yeah, well, this frog ain't as big as that stadium," Ranma chuckled, watching as the frog hopped away from him and Naruto, disappearing into the woods a short distance away, "I'm pretty sure of that,"  
Naruto scratched his head, "I dunno what I did wrong. Gamabunta was supposed to pop up. Lemme try it again. I wanna show you how huge Gamabunta is and how impressive he is. I'm sure something like that's gonna impress you,"  
Ranma smiled, "Don't worry about. And what makes you think I'm not impressed? I'm really impressed with what you've just done,"  
"What, you're impressed?" Naruto asked, "All I did is summon a tiny frog,"  
"So?" Ranma asked, "Dontcha realize you summoned something from outta nowhere? To do something like that is a great feat,"  
Naruto smiled happily, "Wow, now that you've said that, it seems like I've never thought of it like that," Ranma laughed as he messed up Naruto's hair.  
"Naruto, you're always full of surprises,"  
"Naruto? Is that you?"  
Naruto and Ranma, whom had been on their way toward the restaurant where they were expected to meet up with Tsunade and Shizune, turned in the direction of the voice.  
"Kabuto?" Naruto recognize the young looking man, "What are you doing here?"  
Ranma regarded the young man named Kabuto. The man looked to be somewhere in his twenties and wore glass and had a rather warm smile. Having silver hair much like that of Kakashi and Jiraiya, it made him wonder if that hair color was common on that world.  
"No real reason," Kabuto said, smiling. He noticed Ranma looking at him curiously but seem to show no signs of suspicion. "Hello, I'm Kabuto," the young man bowed politely.  
"Yo," Ranma bowed in return, "I'm Ranma,"  
"Kabuto's my friend," Naruto said to Ranma, much to the inward delight of Kabuto, "He and I took the Chuunin Exams together. This was before you showed up,"  
Ranma regarded Kabuto for a moment which seemed to make the young man somewhat nervous. He noticed there seemed to be some kind of bad vibe coming from Kabuto, as if there was much more to the young man that he wanted anyone to know. However, the fact that Naruto said Kabuto was his friend seemed to be a good enough reason to dismiss it. For all Ranma knew, perhaps Kabuto had a bad past like Gaara so it was explainable while he would give off such a bad vibe.  
Gaara gave off a very bad vibe to Ranma back then, but Ranma soon found out that Gaara had such a troubled past that he couldn't blame the boy for turning out that way, that he wasn't born a danger person but molded into one based on his tragic childhood. "The Chuunin Exams? Is that that fighting tournament?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto shook his head, "No. That's actually the third and final part to the Chuunin Exams. I met him during the first part, before we had our written exams,"  
"What are the three parts to the Chuunin Exams?" Ranma seemed interested. He had figured the tournament was the Chuunin Exam.  
Naruto said, "Well, the first part is a written exam. It was really tricky. I met him right before we took the exam together,"  
"What was so tricky about the written exam?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto said, "The written exam had super-hard questions that only around three people could answer. I was told the object of the test was to cheat off the few guys that knew the answer but not get caught. There were many testers there watching you,"  
Ranma laughed, "That's an amusing test. How'd you do?"  
"I passed with flying colors," Naruto smiled proudly, giving a thumbs-up sign.  
Ranma smirked, "How come I have a funny feeling you're the type of person that didn't even realize that you were supposed to cheat in a test like that and spent the whole time stressing out over not knowing the answers,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma burst out laughing, "So you did do that. Man, it seems like I know you really well. So, how'd you manage to pass the test when you didn't answer a single question,"  
"I answered the last question," Naruto said, "The last question was asked around forty-five minutes into the exam. It asked us that if we accept the question and get it wrong, we can never take the Chuunin Exams ever. Even though I couldn't answer any of the previous questions, I didn't let that scare me and choose to try and answer the question,"  
Ranma smiled, "Let me guess, because you choose to accept it, you passed?"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, how'd you know?"  
"I do things like that," Ranma said, "I give trick questions like that for accepting student. Written tests don't prove anything. It's a reaction to a situation that decides if a person is qualified or not,"  
"Students? You're a teacher?" Kabuto asked, making a mental note of that.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. For instance, I'm teaching Naruto here,"  
"Whatever for?" Kabuto asked.  
"So he can protect himself from dangerous people," Ranma answered.  
Kabuto smirked, "You might have some work cut out for you,"  
"Hey!" Naruto said, "You're supposed to be on my side,"  
Ranma and Kabuto started laughing as Naruto let out an annoyed breath. Naruto asked, "Like what kinda questions do you give to students?"  
"Whatever I come up with on the spot," Ranma said, "For instance, if someone wanted me to teach them, I would charge them an outrageous monthly fee. If they choose to accept it, I will teach them for free. If they choose not to, then they lose out because I won't be teaching them,"  
"Why's that?" Naruto asked.  
"Because, I don't want to teach people who is only half-assed with training," Ranma said, "Sure, money is usually a deciding factor for most people taking martial arts. However, if you love martial arts enough that you're willing to pay some high price to learn from me, no matter what, that's the kinda dedication I want,"  
Naruto smirked, "Ah, that's pretty smart,"  
Ranma grinned. "Back to what we were talking about," Naruto said, "The first part of the Chuunin Exams was a written test. The second part takes place in this gigantic arena ten kilometers in diameter that's basically this dangerous forest. All the teams that took part were given scrolls. Half the teams were given the Heaven Scroll while the other half were given the Earth Scroll. The object of that test was to defeat a team carrying a scroll different from your team and make it to the tower in the middle of that arena within five days," Ranma scratched his chin, "Sounds rather complicated, especially if you didn't know what teams had what scroll. I guess half of the teams that took part were eliminated, huh?"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. Luckily, my team and Kabuto's team were one of the few teams that made it through. The third test is the Chuunin Tournament where you popped in, and during my match at that,"  
"Ah," Ranma said, "I get it,"  
"Anyway, Kabuto and I met right in the beginning of our Chuunin Exams," Naruto stated, "He actually help me and my team out a bit during the second test. If it weren't for him, we probably wouldn'tve passed,"  
Ranma regarded Kabuto as he said, "Strange, if you passed the test with Naruto and such, how come you weren't there at the tournament?"  
This guy is so perceptive, Kabuto thought, feeling a bit nervous. It's as if nothing escapes him.  
"He got hurt in the second test," Naruto answered for him, "And because of that, he couldn't take part in the third test. Actually, before the third test, there was a preliminary test to decide who can take the third test,"  
"Why's that?" Ranma asked.  
"Quite a bit of Genin's passed so they needed to have a preliminary fight to decide who can participate in the tournament," Naruto answered, "Kabuto here got hurt so he couldn't even take part in the preliminary so that he could take the third test,"  
"Ah," Ranma said, "I guess that makes sense,"  
"I betcha if you weren't hurt, you'dve passed," Naruto said.  
"Thanks," Kabuto said.  
Ranma checked the height of the sun in sky before saying, "It's almost noon, we should go meet up with Tsunade and Shizune like we're expected,"  
"Say, are you two hungry?" Kabuto quickly asked.  
Ranma and Naruto looked at one another.  
"There's this really good ramen restaurant nearby," Kabuto stated, "Would you two like to accompany me there?"  
"Are you treating?" Naruto asked, his voice hopeful.  
I better not seem too willing to pay or Ranma might get suspicious, Kabuto thought.  
"Well, I don't really want to," Kabuto said, "Don't you have your own money?"  
"Hey, don't be stingy," Naruto said, "You're the one that offered. You should offer to treat as well. Right, Ranma-niisan?"  
Ranma chuckled. He had a funny feeling Naruto wanted Kabuto to pay so he could eat as much ramen as possible and not have to worry about the large bill. He noticed Naruto seemed to have a thing for ramen so that meant offering to treat would be a bad idea on Kabuto's part.  
Naruto turned toward Ranma, "Let's go eat some Ranma,"  
"Nah," Ranma said, "Not interested. Besides, we shouldn't,"  
Kabuto's lips became a thin line as he started to feel his plan to distract Naruto unravel.  
"Why not?" Naruto asked.  
"Well, we're supposed to go meet up with Tsunade and Shizune shortly," Ranma stated, "They're girls. They'll probably rip us new ones if we end up showing up late. It's a stupid double standard. Girls are allowed to show up late when meeting up with guys, but guys aren't allowed to be late when meeting up with girls,"  
Naruto asked, "If that's the case, maybe Tsunade and Shizune will show up late. If we both show up late, it'll be as if we both met up at the same time,"  
Ranma laughed, "That's some weird logic you got there, Naruto,"  
"So, what do you say?" Kabuto asked hopefully, "Care to join me?"  
"Nah," Ranma said, "We're gonna hafta pass,"  
"I wanna go eat ramen," Naruto said, "We've got some time,"  
"Not much though," Ranma said, "Besides, we can wait. After we meet up with Tsunade and Shizune, we can go eat with them. We are meeting up with them just outside a restaurant, afterall,"  
"But it's not a ramen shop," Naruto protested.  
Ranma smirked, "Man, you and your ramen, huh?"  
"Yeah," Naruto said, "So can we go eat there? You like to eat as much as I do so I'm sure you don't have any problems with eating now and eating after we meet up with Tsunade and Shizune,"  
Kabuto held his breath as Ranma seemed to contemplate this. If Ranma choose not to get eat, Orochimaru's well-laid plans would be all undone, all because Ranma's whimsical nature made it hard to anticipate what he would or wouldn't do.  
"All right," Ranma said, "That sounds like a good idea. We can go eat some ramen now and then some lunch with the girls later,"  
Kabuto smiled.

"This ramen kinda sucks," Ranma said.  
Naruto stopped eating his ramen, "You think so?"  
"Yeah, it doesn't taste all that good," Ranma stated, "It's soggy and the soup lacks flavor,"  
Kabuto quickly said, "Are you sure? It tastes fine to me,"  
"So?" Ranma said, "You may like it, but I don't,"  
Naruto looked down at his ramen, "Now that you mention it, it doesn't taste all that great,"  
Ranma quickly gulped up the rest of his ramen before he said, "Let's finish up and get going. There's no need to eat here anymore," He turned toward Kabuto and smirked, "I dunno about you, but I think your idea of good ramen is a bit off. There are better ramen shops out there besides this one,"  
Kabuto was silent for a moment as he quickly thought about what to say next.  
"I'm sorry, I figured this was a good place," Kabuto stated, "I didn't realize you wouldn't like it,"  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, "It's not your fault,"  
Kabuto motioned for the waitress to come over to the table.  
"I'll order us something else," Kabuto said, "There's no need to eat just ramen at this place, afterall,"  
Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "Nah, there's no need. We actually should get going," He got up out of his seat, "We're already late in meeting Tsunade and Shizune and they're gonna get pissed off,"  
"You think they're going to be really angry at us?" Naruto asked curiously.  
"Nah, I'll just tell 'em you made us late," Ranma grinned.  
"What? Why me?" Naruto said, "I'm not the only one who decided to come eat here. You were every bit as willing to come eat here as well,"  
"Yeah, but since they seem to have a soft spot for you, they'll probably let us off the hook if they realize you were the one that suggested it," Ranma chuckled.  
"Hmph!" Naruto said.  
Ranma bowed toward Kabuto, "Well, it was nice meeting you. It's best we be off. Don't worry about the meal, it's on us," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hand full of coins and dropped it on the table, "C'mon, Naruto, we better get going now,"  
Ranma headed for the door.  
"Okay," Naruto said. He smiled toward Kabuto, "Well, it was nice seeing you again. We'll probably bump into each other again in the future,"  
Kabuto glanced over toward the door where Ranma had left. Realizing that he could not prevent Ranma and Naruto from meeting up with Tsunade and Shizune, and that Orochimaru still needed time, he decided he must do something drastic.  
"Naruto, there's something I want to tell you," Kabuto said.  
"What is it?" Naruto asked curiously.  
"I'm not the person you believe I am?" Kabuto smirked.  
"Huh?" Naruto asked, "Whatcha mean by that? I don't understand,"  
Kabuto reached out and grabbed one of Naruto's arms, twisting it at an awkward angle and behind the young boy's back. The young boy yelped out in surprise as surges of pain shot up and down his twisted arm and shoulder.  
"W-what are you doing?" Naruto yelped, falling down to one knee as Kabuto twisted his arm a bit more, "What's going on here?"  
Several restaurant patrons saw what was transpiring and turned their full attention onto Kabuto and Naruto. They stared at them in shocked silence.  
Kabuto didn't seem to mind the stares, already expecting it.  
"Why are you doing this? I thought you were my friend!" Naruto said, gritting his teeth in pain.  
"I'm not your friend," Kabuto said in a cold voice, "I was never your friend. I'm actually a spy sent to infiltrate Hidden Leaf Village. My helping you out is merely a smoke screen to give the illusion that I'm very much like yourself, a person there to take the Chuunin Exams,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked.  
"To keep you and Ranma distracted," Kabuto smirked, "Right now, Orochimaru should be finishing off Tsunade and Shizune in battle as we speak,"  
"Orochimaru? How do you know him?" Naruto gasped.  
Kabuto laughed, "Guess who was the person who sent me as a spy to infiltrate Hidden Leaf Village to start with?"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"A week ago, Orochimaru approached Tsunade seeking her help," Kabuto sneered, "But because of your sudden appearance, it seems like she has no intention of helping him out anymore. Now that she intends to take on the role of the new Hokage, Orochimaru has decided that it's best to kill her now so that she would not become a thorn by his side later on. Afterall, he intends to destroy Hidden Leaf Village before long. Having someone like Tsunade there to defend it is not something he cares to deal with later on,"  
"Orochimaru wants to destroy Hidden Leaf Village?" Naruto gasped.  
Kabuto said, "Who do you think masterminded that invasion in the first place? Had Ranma not showed up and made a nuisance of himself and partook in the situation, the village may very well be in ruins right now,"  
"What the heck's going on here?" came Ranma's voice.  
Kabuto's heart jumped into his throat as he looked up and saw Ranma standing by the door. Aware that Ranma was not the person he wanted to mess with directly, Kabuto produced a dagger from one of his pockets and brought it up to Naruto's throat.  
"Stay back!" Kabuto said in a threatening voice, "Take one step closer and I slit Naruto's throat,"  
Ranma didn't move. It made Kabuto realize that his gamble was right on the money, that there was some kind of close friendship between the two that made Ranma not want to do anything rash and risk Naruto's life.  
"Well well well, it seems like Kabuto shows his true colors," Ranma smirked, "I had a funny feeling there was something shady about you. I guess now I know. It's too bad I made the mistake of dismissing that notion when Naruto had said you were his friend,"  
Kabuto smirked, "I guess it's my lucky day,"  
Ranma and Kabuto made eye contact as they spoke. Damn, Kabuto is willing to kill Naruto without hesitation, Ranma thought. I can't make any dramatic moves or Kabuto's gonna stab Naruto right through the neck.  
"I have no qualms with you or Naruto," Kabuto stated, "I'm merely doing my job,"  
Ranma smirked, "You mean to distract me and keep me from meeting up with Tsunade and Shizune? Orochimaru doesn't want me to show up and interfere with his plans. Hm, it seems like Itachi and Kisame are in the picture as well," Ranma stated, "Orochimaru and Itachi seemed to've formed some kinda alliance with one another to deal with Tsunade and Shizune and Jiraiya,"  
Kabuto seemed somewhat surprised at the statement. He couldn't understand how Ranma knew about that.  
"Who the hell are you?" Kabuto said.  
During Kabuto's brief moment of surprise at the statement, Ranma seize the opportunity and grabbed a chopstick from a table nearby and threw it at Kabuto's dagger hand. The chopstick struck the dagger, causing it to go flying out of his hand and down to the floor nearby.  
"Go!" Ranma shouted toward Naruto.  
Naruto, realizing that Kabuto no longer had a dagger to his throat, flipped toward one side to untwist his arm, landing on his feet so that he was facing Kabuto. With a quick flick of his wrist, Naruto broke out of Kabuto's grasp and took a quick leap back and landed right by where Ranma was.  
Ranma smirked as Kabuto had this surprised look on his face from how easily he had been disarmed and how quickly the situation had changed.  
"It seems like you've lost your advantage in this situation!" Ranma grinned, "I guess you didn't realize that if you mess with my friend, you mess with me! Care to try and go up against someone your size, someone like myself?"  
Naruto glared at Kabuto, "I thought you were my friend. But now, it seems like I'm wrong," He turned toward Ranma, "Ranma-niisan, let me take care of him,"  
"What?" Ranma asked, "You wanna fight him?"  
"Yeah," Naruto turned toward Kabuto, "I'll take care of him,"  
Kabuto looked at Naruto. After a moment, he started laughing.  
"You're so full of yourself, Naruto," Kabuto laughed, "Unlike Sasuke, you have no talent in becoming a ninja. If you try and fight someone like myself, you'll be dead before you know it,"  
Naruto sneered toward Kabuto.  
"Even if you do make such a scary face, you are nothing more than an out-of-  
place Genin," Kabuto taunted, "You always relied on the Nine-Tails that's inside of you. Compared to people like myself, you are worthless. You are like a small bug right now, if you try something,"  
Ranma took a step toward Kabuto, "What do you hafta say about someone like myself? You think I'm a small bug compared to you? You're nothing but a punk in my eyes," Ranma smirked as he held a hand up in front of him, a ki-blast the size of a tennis ball floating just inches above his place, "Care to find out how much a ki-blast could hurt,"  
Kabuto's lips became a thin line. He had momentarily forgotten that the monster named Ranma was on Naruto's side. There was nothing he could do against someone like Ranma. Naruto held a hand out to halt Ranma, "I'll handle it,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Fine, whatever," He let the ki-blast floating in his hand mysteriously disappear and walked over toward a nearby table and sat down, "Just make it quick. It seems like we better go help out Tsunade as soon as possible,"  
Kabuto smirked.  
It seemed like Ranma had no intention in taking part in the fight, choosing to sit out and let Naruto fight instead. It seemed like Ranma was blind to how strong a fighter Kabuto was. Naruto's pride seemed to have been hurt by that comment Kabuto made and it seemed like he was intent on defending himself and making Kabuto eat his words.  
"Go ahead," Kabuto smirked toward Naruto, "If you try something, I'll kill you," "Naruto," Ranma said, "Kabuto is a strong fighter,"  
"That doesn't worry me," Naruto reached in his pockets and pulled on a couple of daggers.  
Kabuto reached into his pocket and pulled out a dagger for each hand. His eyes widened as he watched Naruto place the daggers down on the table.  
"I don't need no weapons to beat the crap outta you," Naruto said, "I'll beat you with my bare hands,"  
Ranma raised a hand, "Um, er, Naruto, you're biting off more than you chew. If you're gonna fight without weapons, I suggest you take off your weighted vest,"  
"Weighted vest?" Kabuto asked.  
Naruto said, "Fine,"  
Kabuto watched as Naruto took off his jacket to reveal a weighted vest stacked with weights.  
What the hell, Kabuto thought in surprise. He's been wearing a weighted vest all this time? I never even noticed it. He walks around like he isn't even wearing a vest.  
Naruto took of the vest and placed it on the nearby table where he had placed his weapons. The table creaked and sagged slightly from the heavy load the vest provided. After a second, the table broke from the load and the vest crashed down to the floor.  
Naruto yelping in surprise seemed to have instantly removed all questions as to what kind of ninja he could have become after Ranma's training. Naruto was still a child, afterall.  
"You're a mere child, Naruto," Kabuto stated, "You're nothing special. You should run away. It was pure luck that you became a Genin and was able to take part in the Chuunin Exams. You have an exceptional spirit, but if you want to grow up to become a champion like a Hokage, it's best that you just run. Under these circumstances, you should Ranma threw his hand up in the air, "C'mon, just fight already! We don't need none of that obligatory banter that usually happens before every damn fight!"  
Naruto charged toward Kabuto, surprising the man with his astounding speed. All Kabuto could do was bring his hand up and block Naruto's incoming punch. Unfortunate, the punch had devastating force behind it as Kabuto found his back slamming against the wall behind him as bolts of pain shot up and down his forearms.  
Kabuto looked toward the side and caught sight of a foot heading straight toward his face. Instinctively, he ducked as Naruto's kick sailed over his head. Smirking, Kabuto gripped the dagger and slashed it upward toward Naruto's face as he was following through from that missed attack.  
Kabuto's eyes widened as he found himself slashing at the air as Naruto leaned backwards. When he slashed at him several more times, Naruto quickly and skillfully dodged the attacks.  
"You fight slow!" Naruto taunted as he continuously dodged, "Your speed is nothing compared to who I'm used to fighting again!"  
"That's me!" Ranma smiled happily as he pointed toward himself.  
"It seems like you've grown quite a bit," Kabuto smirked, "I didn't realize that you could've grown so much in such a short period of time. You've opened up my eyes. It seems like I've been underestimating you,"  
His eyes widened as he saw Ranma suddenly appear right in front of him.  
Before Kabuto had a chance to realize what was happening, Ranma stepped forward and punched Kabuto hard in the stomach, hitting him hard enough that both his feet left the ground.  
Kabuto's body went limp as he slumped forward in Ranma's arm.  
Ranma gently laid Kabuto down on the floor, leaning him against the wall.  
"Whatcha go and do that?" Naruto said, "I thought it was only going to be me and him fighting? I didn't want your help,"  
"The fight would've been long and tedious," Ranma said, "If a fanfic writer had to write that fight scene, he would've found it boring so that's why I ended it quickly,"  
"Huh?" Naruto asked. Ranma chuckled as he waved a dismissive hand.  
"Nevermind,"

new stuff 1/9

Ranma and Naruto ran down the street together.  
"Do you think Tsunade and Shizune are gonna be all right?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "Yeah, I'm sure they can take care of themselves. If Tsunade can knock me around a few times, I'm sure she can knock whoever around a few times,"  
The two of them arrived at the meeting place before long. To their

expectations neither Tsunade nor Shizune were there to meet them.  
"They're not here," Ranma stated.  
"Wow, didja figure that out yourself?" Naruto smirked.  
"Ha ha," Ranma smirked.  
"Where do you think they went?" Naruto asked, watching as Ranma checked the ground around them, "Why are you checking the ground?"  
Ranma looked eastward, "They went that way,"  
"And how do you know that?" Naruto asked, "Don't tell me you're some kinda tracker. What, can you see a trail of chakra that in the direction of where they went since you said everyone had their own unique chakra signature?"  
Ranma pointed toward the ground, "No. Pig tracks,"  
Naruto looked down at where Ranma was pointing and noticed footprints that belonged to a pig.  
"Some tracker you are," Naruto said.  
"What're y'talking about?" Ranma asked, "I never said I was some kinda tracker or something. I'm just looking around for the obvious stuff. Since Shizune's always walking that pig, you figure they'd take it with 'em,"  
"Why would they bring a pig with 'em?" Naruto asked, scratching his head, "Wouldn't it be in danger?"  
"Why the heck you asking me?" Ranma asked, "I haven't a clue,"  
Together, the two of them followed the pig tracks. They made it a few blocks before the trail seemed to disappear, as if Shizune or Tsunade had decided to pick up the pig and carry it the rest of the way.  
"The tracks are gone," Naruto said in disappointment.  
Naruto looked over toward Ranma and caught a glimpse of Ranma as he jumped up into the air and landed on the roof of a store right next to them. Ranma said, "Can you jump up here?"  
"Of course," Naruto said confidently. He jumped up, expecting to be able to land on the rooftop with a single leap, but suddenly realized that he had forgotten the fact that he was still wearing a vest. Instead, he ended up grabbing at the edge of the building, dangling there for a minute, feeling like an idiot.  
Ranma laughed as he reached out and grabbed one of Naruto's hands, lifting him up easily and onto the rooftop where he stood.  
"Heh, it seems like you forgot that you were wearing a vest," Ranma grinned, "I'm surprised you even managed to jump that high while wearing the weighted vest. You're getting really strong,"  
"Let's not add anymore weights," Naruto said meekly.  
Ranma chuckled.  
"How come we're up here?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma pointed eastward, "All we hafta do is head in this direction. It seems like Shizune or Tsunade decided to pick up the pig and head off. Since they were headed that direction in the first place, it's pretty good to believe that they're continuing to head in that direction,"  
"To where though?" Naruto asked, "To the outskirts of the village?"  
"Perhaps beyond," Ranma stated, "Perhaps they're heading for outside the village, where there are no buildings or nothing that'll be destroyed. If a battle's gonna take place, it's best to fight where there would be little or no collateral damage,"  
Ranma caught sight of a figure a good distance in front of them darting on top of the rooftops.  
"Hey, that looks like Shizune," Ranma said, speeding off, "C'mon. Hustle. Let's catch up to her,"  
Naruto watched in surprised as Ranma broke out and sprinted on ahead, leaping through the air, jumping over entire buildings in his attempt to catch up to Shizune.  
"Jeez," Naruto said to himself and he slowly made his way along the rooftops, intent on catching up.  
Ranma caught up to Shizune within seconds.  
"Shizune," Ranma called out to her.  
Shizune, carrying the pig in her hands, stopped and turned around to see who it was. Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized it was Ranma.  
"Ranma!" she said, relief in her voice, "I'm so glad to see you,"  
"Heh, I have that effect on women," Ranma grinned.  
Shizune sneered, "Jeez, I don't even know why I bother tolerating you, especially when you act like that,"  
"Relax," Ranma said, holding a hand up defensively, "I'm just joking around,"  
Naruto finally managed to catch up to them. He seemed a bit winded. "I'm sorry, but I haven't been honest with you," Shizune began, placing the pig down, "Tsunade and Jiraiya, they have gone off to fight Orochimaru,"  
Ranma said, "I know. I know about that,"  
"You do?" Shizune asked.  
"We recently met up with Kabuto," Ranma told her, "We're late because he tried to distract us and keep us from meeting up with you and Tsunade and Jiraiya,"  
"You mean Tsunade and Jiraiya," Shizune said, "I'm not a part of their plans. How do you know all this?"  
Ranma smirked, "Kabuto. We got the info from Kabuto,"  
"Who's Kabuto?" Shizune asked.  
"Basically a henchmen of Orochimaru," Ranma said, "He's some kinda spy that befriended Naruto a while ago. He used that supposed friendship to distract the two of us from looking for you guys,"  
Naruto looked down at the ground, ashamed at having been fooled by Kabuto. He had really thought Kabuto was his friend too.  
"How come you're not with Tsunade or Jiraiya?" Ranma asked.  
Shizune said, "Because, they didn't want me in the way. I was at our hotel when Jiraiya showed up. Before I realized what had happened, Tsunade said it was for my own good that I not know where they were going so she knocked me unconscious for a short time,"  
Ranma bent down to pet the pig, "Ah, that explains why the pig's with you, huh? You're using the pig to track Tsunade and Jiraiya?"  
Shizune nodded, "Yes. Even thought it's going to be Jiraiya and Tsunade up against Orochimaru, I'm sure Orochimaru isn't one to be underestimated,"  
"Tsunade's really strong," Ranma said, "I'm sure she can handle this Orochimaru guy. And with Jiraiya there, they're probably be very hard to deal with. I've never seen Jiraiya fight, but I'm sure that guy's strong like Tsunade," Shizune shook her head, "No, things are going to be very difficult for the two of them. Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya used to be teammates. Because the three of them know each other, I'm sure Orochimaru knows of Tsunade's weakness,"  
This was news to Ranma, "What weakness?"  
"She suffers from 'Terrible Blood Disease'," Shizune trusted Ranma enough with knowing something like that. There was a quality to Ranma that made her know that Ranma would not exploit such a weakness. Ranma was actually a good person despite having rough edges.  
Ranma scratched his head, "'Terrible Blood Disease'? Sounds nasty,"  
"She has a phobia against blood," Shizune said, "If blood gets on her, she freezes up and is unable to function normally,"  
"Wow, that's a nasty phobia," Ranma said, "I didn't realize that about her. We've better go help 'em out,"  
He couldn't help but wish he had read more into Kabuto's mind. All he did was check out what his true intentions was and found out that it was to distract him and Naruto. He had never looked any further into his thoughts than that. All he had bothered to find out was that Kabuto's job was to merely distract him and Naruto and prevent them from seeking out Tsunade. "Ton-Ton, you know where we can find Tsunade and Jiraiya?" Ranma asked the pig.  
Shizune looked at Ranma curiously, wondering how he knew the pig's name was Ton-Ton. Neither she nor Tsunade had ever called the pig by its name in front of Ranma nor had they ever told him what its name was.  
She watched as the pig snorted a few times toward Ranma.  
"C'mon, let's go," Ranma said, "Ton-Ton says Tsunade and Jiraiya went that way. They're around a mile outside the village,"  
Together, the three of them headed eastward.

In a vast and desolate rocky area around a mile east of the village, Itachi stood over Jiraiya as Jiraiya was down on one knee, breathing heavily. Standing near the two of them was Kisame, the large sword of his resting comfortably over one of his broad shoulders. The sword was no longer wrapped in bandages, the bandages having been removed. The blade of the sword looked like it was made of scales.  
"You're a formidable opponent, Jiraiya," Itachi smirked, "I guess that's why you're considered one of the Three Legendary Ninjas,"  
"Any last words before I slice your head off?" Kisame smirked.  
Jiraiya was in bad shape. Having to fight Kisame and Itachi proved to be far harder than he had anticipated. He had underestimated just how powerful a team the two of them were.  
"Damn sword," Jiraiya muttered under his breath.  
Kisame's sword was more powerful than he had anticipated. It had this odd ability of absorbing massive amounts of chakra. Every time Jiraiya was about to use some special technique which required the use of chakra to implement, Kisame would swing his sword toward him, sucking out all the chakra he was building up for the technique.  
Even if the sword didn't hit Jiraiya, the proximity of it sucked out his chakra before he could do anything with it. When Jiraiya had caught on to this and realized he needed to defeat Kisame. During the brief moment when he had managed to knock Kisame down and the sword away from him, Itachi had spotted an opening and used his dreaded Tsukiyomi technique on Jiraiya, the same technique he used twice on Ranma a week before.  
Itachi started walking away, "I figure you'd be a more formidable opponent. I guess I was wrong. Kisame, feel free to kill Jiraiya,"  
"See you in Hell!" Kisame sneered as he raised his swords back, intent on slicing Jiraiya in half.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" came a voice.  
Before Kisame had a chance to slash at Jiraiya, the ground below his feet exploded upward, catching him completely by surprise. Shrapnel flew upward and struck him, blowing him bodily away from Jiraiya where he crashed to the ground a short distance away, his sword landing a short distance away from him, he having lost his grip on it in the explosion.  
Itachi had been close when the explosion had occurred but had reacted quickly enough to jump away from the explosion and land a safe distance away before any of the flying shrapnel that consisted of rocks could hurt him.  
Jiraiya had ended up getting caught in the explosion as well, he being within such close proximity to Kisame when it had occurred. He ended up getting blown bodily away as well where he tumbled to the ground a short distance away, right by where Ranma and the others were.  
Looking up, he saw Ranma smiling down at him.  
"Sorry about that," Ranma said, "It couldn't be helped. You look like a tough guy. I'm sure you'll live,"  
"Goddamn" Kisame swore to himself as he got up to his feet, "What the hell was that?" Looking around, he quickly grabbed his sword when he saw it laying on the ground nearby.  
"Damn, did that hurt?" came a voice, "Good,"  
Itachi and Kisame looked in the direction of the voice. A short distance away as Ranma and Naruto and Shizune, Shizune holding the pig closely in her arms.  
"Oh shit," Kisame muttered under his breath at the sight of Ranma. Shizune's eyes widened as she recognized the young man standing near Kisame.  
"T-That's Uchiha Itachi!" she gasped, "W-what's he doing here?"  
"Up to no good most likely," Ranma said. He regarded Itachi and Kisame as they stared at him intently.  
"It seems we are in luck," Itachi said in a cold voice, laughing slightly, "It seems like we won't be needing Orochimaru's help in finding Naruto,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "What's that supposed to mean?"  
"It's none of your concern," Itachi said.  
Ranma made eye contact with Itachi for a moment.  
"Heh, it seems like you've forgotten something," Ranma smirked, "I can read your mind,"  
"You can read minds?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "I just don't because it's an invasion of privacy, but I can. Anyway, it seems like Orochimaru and Itachi have formed some kinda alliance. Orochimaru has made a deal with Itachi that he will bring Naruto to him if Itachi helps him out in dealing with Jiraiya and Tsunade,"  
"Hmph!" Itachi said coldly, "Frankly, I don't care whether you know or not,"  
"Then why didntja tell me before instead of trying to act all cool and mysterious by saying 'It's none of your concern'," Ranma smirked, "So, since it seems like Naruto's here, what do you intend to do? You both can't be that stupid to think I'll just stand around and let you kidnap him,"  
Itachi smirked, "No, we don't. It seems like we will have to take him by force,"  
"Oh?" Ranma asked, "What do you intend to do, beat me up? You're gonna have your work cut out for ya. I've beat you both before, I'm sure I can beat you again now,"  
Itachi continued to smirk, "You seem awfully confident of yourself. You're a very skilled individual. I'll give you that. You've opened our eyes with that encounter. We've underestimated you then. We won't make that mistake now,"  
Ranma smirked, holding his arms out, "Are you sure? Why dontcha look around you?"  
Itachi asked, "What do you mean?"  
"Look at this battle field," Ranma chuckled, "Nothing but rocks. You know how much ammunition that gives me? You think you can dodge my rocks if I tried throwing 'em at you more,"  
Kisame smirked, "Go ahead,"  
Ranma quickly picked up a rock and threw it at Kisame's head. Kisame simply tilted his head toward the side as the rock sailed right by him. This surprised Ranma because he wasn't expecting Kisame to be able to dodge it with so little effort.  
"You caught me by surprise," Kisame said, "Now that I know what you're capable of, you won't catch me with that again,"  
"Actually, I caught you with a rock throw twice," Ranma smirked, "Remember? The first one knocked you out when you first bumped into me. The second time was because you wanted to act bad-ass and threaten me after I let you go,"  
"I was holding Itachi!" Kisame sneered, "You won't get me again,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Okay. That doesn't worry me. What the hell are you two gonna use on me, that Tsukiyomi technique? That sword to suck out my ki? Ooh, I'm scared shitless,"  
Ranma opened his eyes really wide with his index fingers and thumbs on two hands toward Itachi, "Go ahead, use that Tsukiyomi technique on me again. Make it last a week if you want. I'm not scared. Using that technique's useless on me,"  
Jiraiya, whom had been silent all the time, seemed surprised.  
Ranma had encountered Itachi before, he thought. Itachi used that Tsukiyomi technique on him as well and Ranma isn't scared of Itachi using it on him again? What kinda of man is this Ranma?  
Itachi started laughing.  
"You think something like the Tsukiyomi is my trump card?" Itachi continued to laugh, "It's obvious that you're so full of yourself. You will find out the hard way that you've underestimated someone like myself,"  
Ranma shrugged.  
"Whatever you say. Let's just end this quickly,"

new stuff 1/10

Ranma placed both hands down on the ground.  
"Seppukku Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" Ranma shouted.  
Itachi and Kisame readied themselves to react at a moment's notice, expecting the ground right below the to explode like before. However, what happened next caught them completely by surprise. The ground surrounding them within a hundred meter diameter exploded upward, as if it had an area of effect a thousand times larger than what he usually used.  
When they both landed on the ground following the large explosion, they looked visibly shaken but generally unhurt. Kisame had used the gigantic blade of his sword to block the brunt of the rocky shrapnel from below.  
Itachi had merely covered himself with that cloak of his to protect himself from the shrapnel. Itachi's cloak was of a special material that he used as a shield when needed.  
Both looked surprised at what Ranma had just put them through. Had they not been able to protect themselves from the upward exploding rocks, they both would had gotten hurt.  
"You think you can dodge that?" Ranma smirked.  
Kisame and Itachi coldly stared at Ranma.  
"Want me to try it again?" Ranma asked, placing both hands on the ground, "Except this time, I'll throw rocks at you as you both fall down from the sky?"  
Itachi said coldly, "You annoy me,"  
"What are you gonna do about it?" Ranma said, flipping Itachi the middle finger, "You're nothing but a little boy against someone like myself. Y'dunno who you're messing with,"  
Ranma looked at Itachi's eyes and noticed something odd. He could not read him liked he used to before.  
"Trying to read my thoughts again?" Itachi asked, "Well, it isn't going to work on me twice. There are things about me I don't care for you to know about,"  
Ranma smirked, "Big deal. So you know how to prevent me from reading your thoughts. That doesn't worry me," "Then perhaps you should be worried," Itachi said, "I have a funny feeling you've only read my thoughts to know some quick things about me, about who I am and why I'm after Naruto. Well those thoughts are correct. However, I've got the funny feeling you haven't read deep enough into my thought to know all there is about me,"  
Ranma said, "So? I only looked around in that puny mind of yours for what I needed,"  
"Therein lies your mistake," Itachi said, "You never bothered to look deep enough to know the full extent of my abilities,"  
"What do I need to know, you possess the Sharingan much like Sasuke," Ranma shrugged, "That doesn't worry me. It allows you to see through illusions and such. However, I also know of its weakness, hand-to-hand combat, something I excel at,"  
Itachi laughed, "Don't insult me, comparing me with someone as pathetic as Sasuke. Unlike someone like myself, he has yet to understand the Sharingan's full potential,"  
Ranma said, "Let me guess, you're going to tell me like some cookie-cutter bad-guy?"  
"Okay, how about I show you a demonstration?" Itachi smirked.  
"I'm ready when you are," Ranma said.  
Ranma was about to get into a battle stance when he suddenly found himself unable to move.  
"What the?" Ranma was surprised, "I can't move,"  
"It seems like my assumptions were correct," Itachi said, "You haven't probed deeply enough to know the extent of my true abilities. Otherwise, you wouldn'tve been so easily caught in one of my techniques,"  
Naruto wondered what had just happened, why Ranma couldn't move.  
He looked down toward the ground and noticed Itachi's shadow was different from everyone else's shadows. Because it was noontime, everyone had relatively small shadows, the sun almost directly overhead. However, Itachi's own shadow was completely different for it extended forward and seemed attached to Ranma's own shadow.  
"T-That's the Shadow Bind that Shikamaru uses!" Naruto said in surprise, pointing toward the ground, "He's using his shadow to bind Ranma! Look out for his shadow!"  
"Che!" Itachi sneered toward the annoying young boy.  
Itachi, while his shadow was still attached to Ranma's shadow, made his shadow branched out from Itachi's extended shadow and straight toward him and Jiraiya and Shizune. Luckily for them, Naruto's warning had allowed them to react as they quickly leapt backwards and continued doing so until they were a good hundred or feet away from Ranma and Itachi and Kisame, when the shadows seemed to have reached their limit of being extended. Jiraiya, despite being in rather bad shape, had been able to get away thanks to Shizune throwing one of his arms around her shoulder and helping him out.  
"You know what the Shadow Bind technique is?" Itachi smirked as he turned his attention away from the group and toward Ranma.  
He raised a hand and made a gesture with it, Ranma emulating the gesture exactly.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "What you do, I do,"  
"Yes," Itachi stated, "It gives me complete control over my opponent,"  
Ranma smirked, "Well, it's flawed. My body will only move in the exact fashion as you do. If you hit me, I'll automatically hit you back. If you block my attack, I'll end up blocking your attack as well. If you wanna trade hits, I'm all for it. Go ahead and throw daggers at me, it's not gonna really get hurt. You can control my body, but you can't control how I can manipulate my ki,"  
Itachi held one of his hands out and jammed an index finger right into his forearm. Ranma ended up doing the same, imitating Itachi's motions exactly, jamming his own index finger into his forearm as well.  
Ranma gritted his teeth as he felt bolt of pain shoot up and down his punctured forearm.  
"It seems like that hurts," Itachi smirked, showing no signs of pain at having hurt himself just to make Ranma hurt himself as well.  
"Gee, what a keen observation," Ranma taunted, "You should become a brain surgeon since it seems like you're so damn smart. Of course it goddamn hurts you moron. I'm jamming a damn hole in my forearm with my own fingers,"  
Itachi smirked as he jammed another finger in his forearm again. Once again, Ranma imitated the action exactly, hurting himself some more in the process.  
"Dude, this is getting boring," Ranma said, shifting his eyes toward the two puncture holes in his forearms, "I don't care if I'm hurting myself. You're hurting yourself in the process. I'm positive I have a higher pain threshold than you do,"  
"Oh really?" Itachi said.  
He held his forearm out to display the two wounds he had inflicted upon himself. Ranma watched as those two holes seemed to miraculously heal itself, sealing themselves up and leaving behind not even a scar.  
"Unlike you, I can heal myself," Itachi smirked, "The damage I cause to myself isn't permanent,"  
Ranma laughed, "So? Big deal. You think I can't function with a bad forearm. You Shadow Bind technique is only temporary. Once I get out, you'll never catch me with that technique again,"  
Itachi laughed, "Now I know you haven't read my thoughts enough. It seems you're not fully aware of my Sharingan ability. Unlike Sasuke, I've mastered it. This allows me to learn and use techniques merely through observation. However, I don't merely emulate someone using a special technique, I can actually learn and use the technique in its most powerful form,"  
"What do you mean by that?" Ranma asked.  
"The Shadow Bind technique I use is the Shadow Bind technique in its most powerful form," Itachi said, "I virtually have no time limit with the technique,"  
Ranma said, "Ah, so let me get this straight, with your Sharingan ability, you're basically a copy-cat able to use a technique and at its most powerful form?"  
"That is correct," Itachi said.  
"Thanks for the info," Ranma smirked, "Now that I know what you're capable of, I guess now I can fight you accordingly,"  
Itachi asked, "And how do you expect that?"  
"Sure, you've got me in that Shadow Bind technique, but that doesn't mean I'm completely helpless and at your mercy," Ranma said wryly.  
Itachi laughed, "And just how do you expect to get out of this situation?"  
"I'm not, at least not right now," Ranma answered, "I'm gonna keep shooting the shit with you until I get bored of this obligatory good-guy bad-guy banter. You have no idea how many of these things I've come across these kinda conversation with all the opponents I've come across. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't grown bored of hearing the same crap over and over again,"  
Itachi chuckled, "You amuse me. It seems like you have no idea what kind of predicament you're in,"  
"Heh, actually, I don't think you realize what kinda predicament you're in," Ranma said, "You're actually in a lot more trouble than I am,"  
"You bore me," Itachi smirked toward Ranma. He looked toward his associate, "Kisame, kill our opponent,"  
"You don't have to tell me twice," Kisame smirked, taking a step toward Ranma, his grip taut over the scabbard of his gigantic scaled sword, "Heh, I'm going to enjoy this,"  
"Before you 'kill' me, I just wanna say one thing," Ranma said.  
"Oh?" Itachi asked.  
"Remember how I said you can control my body but you can't control my ki?" Ranma asked, "If you can control my body AND control my ki, then I'd probably be in deep shit. Unfortunately, that isn't the case,"  
Ranma, with his arms by his side, shot a huge ki-blast toward the ground. A massive explosion erupted as he and Kisame and Itachi were caught up in the blast.  
All three of them were blown bodily through the air where they landed far apart from one another. All three off them, even though they had been caught in the blast, had managed to flip in the air and land safely on their feet.  
Ranma burst out laughing as he saw the stunned looks on Kisame's and Itachi's faces. Although they looked generally unhurt save for some scratches on their bodies, it looked like the blast had effected them more mentally than physically.  
Ranma looked down at himself and noticed that parts of his outfit were ripped and that there were some nicks and scratches all over his body. His body ached from having taken the brunt of the blast but it didn't seem to bother him much. He also hid it really well.  
"You know what's funny?" Ranma laughed, "I've actually hurt myself more than you've managed to hurt me? I haven't fought opponents where I ended up more hurt than my opponents after fighting for a minute or so, that have hurt me this much in a long while. I find it rather hilarious that I'm hurting myself more than you're hurting me,"  
"Those damn chakra-spheres of his," Kisame sneered, dusting himself as he walked over toward Itachi as the young man regarded Ranma intently, "We need to find a way to get past them or we're in deep trouble. This guy's very dangerous,"  
"I know that," Itachi said in a cold voice, "I knew not to underestimate him, but for him to possess no thought of self-preservation even surprises me,"  
"Shit!" Kisame said as he saw Ranma not too far away, holding a hand forward toward the both of them.  
Kisame and Itachi anticipated Ranma shooting a ki-blast and quickly dashed toward the side, Itachi toward the left, Kisame toward the right, expecting the ki-blast to miss them. The only way they could fight against something with immense power is with speed. If they moved quickly enough, they would provide too hard a moving target for Ranma.  
"Morons," Ranma smirked, putting his arm back down, already knowing their plans, "They actually believe that I can't hit a moving target? What a riot,"  
His eyes widened as Itachi suddenly disappeared, using extreme speed that Ranma could not follow him visually.  
"Damn, what a fast guy," Ranma said, looking around for Itachi, all the while aware of Kisame as he continued to zigzag around, slowing making his way toward where he was.  
Suddenly, Ranma sensed Itachi appearing right behind him. As Ranma turned around to face his opponent, eyes widened as he saw one of Itachi's hand glowing blue.  
"Oh shit!" Ranma said, realizing that he should dodge the attack. Ranma had figured Itachi was going to try and punch him and wanted to simply let Itachi hit him so that he could counter attack with a more powerful attack. That was one of Ranma's unique style of fighting, implementing hit-trades. Ranma quickly side stepped as Itachi slashed at him with a dagger, missing him by inches. What confused him was how the dagger seemed be hitting him even though he was dodging it with inches to spare. He noticed his clothes seemingly becoming shredded even though the dagger never actually cut them.  
What the hell, Ranma thought as he skillfully dodging each and every attack. Why's his dagger cutting up my clothes. Does he have a special dagger where the blade is actually longer than it looks? Wait, I know, he's attaching ki to the tips of the dagger blade to make the blade longer than it seems. Hm, that's really creative. He's also really quick. I'm surprised he moves this fast and at such a young age. He moves faster than I did when I was his age. This kid must have a real talent for martial arts. Oh well, let's end this quickly.  
Before Ranma had a chance to counter attack, he caught the sight of a shadow coming from behind him. He knew that it wasn't Kisame, Kisame still to far away.  
Turning his attention toward it, he realized it was another Itachi. "Shit!" Ranma dodged the incoming attack, the dagger narrowly missing him but actually cutting up his clothes regardless.  
Instantly, he suddenly found himself being attack by two identical Itachi. Within seconds, two more shadows started attacking him, implementing perfect teamwork, all four of them attacking him like a single entity.  
"I see you know the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique," Ranma smirked toward Itachi as he continued to dodge all the incoming attacks. Continuously dodging four Itachi slashing at him was no hard task for someone like Ranma. "Not quite," all four of them said in unison, "This is version is much different,"  
"Whatever," Ranma seemed bored, "Let's find out which one of you are real,"  
Ranma dodged a missed slash by the nearest Itachi and counter attacked with a wicked hook punch right to his face. He had no idea if it was the clone or not so he took care to hold back, not wanting to use his full strength and accidentally kill the young man.  
The moment Ranma's fist connect with Itachi's face, Itachi exploded much like a bomb, engulfing Ranma and the other three Itachi as well. Within the blast, three more other blasts had occurred as the remaining Itachi exploded as well. The surprised Ranma ended up getting blown bodily backwards, flying straight through the air toward the incoming Kisame.  
"Gotcha!" Kisame smirked as he slashed downward at Ranma while Ranma was in mid-flight. Luckily for Ranma, he had twisted in the air and oriented his body toward Kisame as he brought the sword down upon him, deflecting the slash with a well-  
time slap on the flat side of the blade as it descended upon him. The blade missed, slicing into the ground as Ranma twisted in the air and landed on his feet a short distance away.  
Ranma let out an annoyed breath. He couldn't help but feel weaker now than before. This was because Kisame's sword had sucked a massive amount of his ki when he had slashed at him. Having touched the sword when he deflected it made him lose almost all of his ki.  
Leaping back a few times, Ranma realized he needed some time to recover his ki and distance himself from Kisame and that damn sword of his.  
"It seems you realized my sword is no ordinary sword," Kisame smirked, pulling the sword from the ground, "It has the ability to suck out a person's chakra. I don't even need to touch you with it to suck out all you chakra,"  
Ranma picked up a rock and threw it at Kisame. Kisame quickly stopped his talking, forced to bring his blade up to block the incoming projectile.  
"Damn, and I was hoping you would be so caught up with yourself blabbering on like that that the rock would actually hit you," Ranma smirked.  
He glanced around, wondering where Itachi was. Kisame was more of an annoyance than anything else. Itachi was much more dangerous since he possessed skills Ranma wasn't at all aware of.  
As a second of scanning, he saw Itachi a short distance away, both of his hands on the ground.  
If I read deeper into Itachi's mind, I would know of all his techniques and their weaknesses, Ranma thought, annoyed at himself. Damn, what's he doing? That little turd's starting to piss me off.  
All of a sudden, the ground below Ranma exploded upward. Luckily for Ranma, he had reacted in time to jump out of the way, repeated that several times as Itachi made the ground below Ranma's feet exploded.  
Damn, he's using the Bakusai Tenketsu Revised Technique against me, Ranma thought. "This Bakusai Tenketsu Revised technique of yours is amusing," Itachi smirked for a short distance away, getting back on his feet. He had contemplated using the Seppukku-version on Ranma but didn't want Kisame to be caught in the blast as well. While Itachi didn't particularly care about Kisame all that much, Kisame was a useful person to have around.  
"You little shit," Ranma sneered, "You're starting to piss me off,"  
"Your attention should be on me!" came a voice from behind him. Kisame had ran up on Ranma from behind while Ranma had been momentarily distracted with dodging Itachi's own Bakusai Tenketsu Revised attacks. He had his sword overhead and was intent on cutting Ranma in half from head to groin.  
"Fuck off!" Ranma said, turning around and kicking toward Kisame's side. Kisame had only managed to bright his sword down and use the flat of his blade to block the incoming kick. Unfortunately for him, he didn't anticipate the overwhelming strength behind Ranma's kick as the other flat side of blade ended up hitting into him as he was sent flying bodily a good fifty feet, tumbling on the ground a few times before coming to a sliding halt.  
"As I was saying," Ranma turned back toward Itachi.  
Itachi was gone, using his lightning speed to make it impossible for Ranma to see him with his naked eyes.  
Ranma smirked.  
He turned in the direction of Kisame and proceeded to walk toward him as the large man was slowly getting back to his feet, using his sword as support in doing so.  
"I must say, you and Itachi are amusing opponents," Ranma smirked, continuing to walk toward Kisame, "You with that ki-sucking sword of yours. Itachi with that annoying Sharingan ability of his. You make a pretty good team,"  
Ranma reached a hand out toward the right and grabbed at the air in front of him, just as Itachi suddenly appeared right where his arm was, yelping in surprise as he suddenly realized Ranma had somehow managed to grab him by his neck.  
"You're quick, but not as quick as me," Ranma smirked toward the surprised Itachi, "You really think I need to rely on sight to follow you? Don't make me laugh,"  
Itachi pressed at several pressure points in Ranma's forearm which caused him to automatically release his hold on his neck. However, Ranma simply grabbed him with his other arm and threw him in the direction of Kisame. He and Kisame ended up slamming into one another, tumbling to the ground a few times.  
"Ready for round two?" Ranma smirked, continuing to walk toward them.  
"I'm gonna kill you!" Kisame sneered.  
"Blah blah blah, generic bad-guy comment," Ranma said, making a mouthing motion with his hand, "Come up with something more original,"  
"Why you!" Kisame sneered.  
Without warning, Ranma threw a fist skyward.  
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!" he shouted as a massive whirlwind erupted from his fist. It spiraled around him, picking up the dust all right him and flew skyward like a massive whirlwind, engulfing Itachi and Kisame up along with it.  
As the whirlwinds swirled around him, Ranma leapt backward and out of the spiraling funnel of winds, pausing a moment as he stood outside the column of wind to look up toward the two figures swirling skyward deep within it.  
Ranma casually threw two ki-blasts into the whirlwind, tossing it in much like the way a person would toss a Frisbee. He watched as the ki-blast spiraled upward where it eventually reached the two figures within it and exploded.  
When the winds subsided, the two figures flew lifelessly down toward the ground. Ranma ran forward and leapt up into the air, catching Itachi as he fell before landing and quickly leaping back up and catching Kisame.  
When Ranma landed, both Itachi and Kisame were unconscious in his arms.  
Ranma didn't show any signs of gentleness as he casually dropped both of them on the ground, the both of them hitting the ground with a loud thud.  
"Not bad, Itachi-chan," Ranma smirked, "However, you're around a hundred years too early to think you can beat me. Neither you nor Kisame are a match for someone as skilled as myself,"  
Ranma burst out laughing, relishing in his win over Itachi and Kisame.  
A second later, the giant sword that Kisame had once been holding landed right by Ranma's feet, scaring the living hell out of him, causing Ranma to fall down and onto this backside in surprise.  
"Holy shit! That was scary!" he panted a few times.  
He glanced over toward the group as they came running over toward where he was.  
He had looked so cool fighting Itachi and Kisame that he was sure to have impressed them. However, his coolness factor had disappeared when the sword landing near him had frightened him into falling down.  
He sighed, feeling as if he could never win in such situations like these.  
"Damn, I looked so cool fighting 'em. And what happens? I go and screw it all up with that last bit with the sword,"

new stuff 1/16

"You're a lot more powerful than I expected," Jiraiya commented as he approached Ranma. Ranma smiled, "Thanks,"  
Jiraiya, while looking unscathed, seemed to have trouble standing as he leaned heavily on Shizune for support.  
"That was a rather incredible display of power," Shizune commented, taking a glance over the battlefield where most of the ground was torn up, "What were those Justus you used? I've never seen someone use Jutsu so effortlessly and destructively,"  
Jiraiya said, "That last Jutsu, the one where you release a sphere of chakra from your hands reminds me of the Rasengan,"  
He recalled thinking the exact same thing when he saw Ranma using that same technique to attack Gaara after he had taken the form of a giant monster.  
"Rasengan?" Ranma asked.  
"A technique I taught the Fourth Hokage a long time ago," Jiraiya stated, "Of course, it's more compact and never leaves the user's hands like yours did,"  
Shizune asked, "What do you call that technique of yours?"  
"Mouko Takabisha," Ranma said, jerking a thumb toward Naruto, "As a matter of fact, I'm teaching it to Naruto as we speak. He still has a ways to go but he'll get the hang of it sooner or later,"  
Naruto smiled confidently, "I'll learn it soon enough,"  
"It seems very powerful," Shizune stated, "I've never seen something like that before,"  
"Those three are actually my favorite techniques," Ranma said, "They're very useful so I rarely use techniques other than those three. The way I think of it, if it ain't broke, don't fix it,"  
Naruto asked, "Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but shouldn't we be looking for Tsunade? Isn't she and Orochimaru fighting against one another somewhere?"  
Jiraiya smirked, "Don't worry about her. She'll be fine,"  
"Doesn't she have some kinda phobia with blood?" Ranma asked.  
Jiraiya was surprised at the comment, "How did you know about that?"  
"I had to tell him," Shizune stated.  
"Well, I guess it's all right," Jiraiya said to Ranma, "You seem like the kind of person that, despite knowing of her weakness, would not be the type to exploit it,"  
Ranma laughed, "Don't bet on it,"  
He had no problems exploiting a person's weakness if he knew of it. He did that with Ryoga all the time. Ryoga had a very bad sense of direction and Ranma had no problems making him goading him into a chase and then losing him after a few minutes of running.  
"If it's Tsunade against Orochimaru, we have nothing to worry about," Jiraiya said calmly, "Even though she has a weakness like that, for her phobia to take effect, she needs to have actual blood splatter on her. Tsunade knows that Orochimaru knows of her weakness and she's good enough that she can prevent him from exploiting that weakness,"  
Ranma asked, "Who's the better fighter, Tsunade or Orochimaru?" "Tsunade," Jiraiya said without hesitation. Tsunade was the strongest of the Legendary Ninjas. She was stronger than both Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Possessing vast fighting skills much like Orochimaru and Jiraiya, she had extra trump cards in her favor, her monstrous strength and her keen knowledge of healing arts. She could heal herself in battle should she ever get hurt.  
Tsunade's phobia against blood was a very serious weakness, but Jiraiya had a funny feeling that she could forcefully overcome that phobia in the heat of battle, should her life ever be in danger. "Can she beat you?" Naruto asked Jiraiya, "Is she stronger than you?"  
"Of course not," Jiraiya lied through his teeth.  
"Sure," Ranma smirked, not buying it one bit. Shizune said to Jiraiya, "Do you know where Tsunade and Orochimaru had gone off to to fight?"  
Jiraiya nodded, "North of here. She and I began our battle against Orochimaru and Kisame and Itachi together but she gave chase after Orochimaru when he started running away, leaving me to deal with both Itachi and Kisame,"  
"Do you think he's luring her into a trap or something?" Ranma seemed concerned.  
"Even if she is walking into a trap, she'll be able to take care of herself," Shizune said confidently, "Tsunade's not one to fall into traps and such,"  
"That's good to hear," Ranma said. He stretched, "Well, I guess since things are okay, we can split up,"  
"What?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma said, "We can split up here. Since it seems Tsunade can take care of herself, there's no need to worry over her. That way, Naruto and I can head on with our journey East,"  
"Aren't you going to come help us out in dealing with Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked.  
"Nah," Ranma said, "There's no reason for me and Naruto to stay. I kinda need to go East to Hidden Mist Village, and Naruto's gonna come with me,"  
Jiraiya cast Naruto a glance. Naruto simply gave a slight smile and shrugged.  
"If Tsunade's good enough a fighter to take care of herself, then there's no need for me to help out," Ranma stated, "We can split up here. No offense, but over the course of my life, I've come to realize that the less I get involved with conflicts, the less likely I am to be involved with this world's affairs,"  
"Isn't that rather selfish of you?" Shizune sounded a bit angry, "Are you saying that you don't want to be help because you don't want to get involved?"  
"C'mon, don't put words in my mouth," Ranma retorted, "I'm just stating that I'm not gonna bother getting involved when there's no need for me to get involved. Keep in mind that Naruto and I're just passing through town. We were originally on our way to Hidden Mist Village a week ago when we bumped into you and Tsunade,"  
Shizune asked, "So how come you hung around for a week?"  
"Because," Ranma jerked a thumb toward Naruto, "Naruto made a wager with Tsunade that he would learn how to shoot a ki-blast at the end of the week. Well, it's the end of the week and Naruto hasn't managed to learn it yet,"  
Naruto said nothing, feeling disappointed in himself. He really wanted to prove that he could do a ki-blast by the end of the week, but he himself he was no closer to doing so than the beginning of the week.  
"So what, you're just going to leave from here?" Shizune asked.  
"Yeah, not unless you want us to stay for a bit," Ranma said, "We'll stay if you want us to stay, but seriously, I see no reason for you to want us to stay since Jiraiya here's fine now that Itachi and Kisame are out cold and Tsunade can handle Orochimaru on her own,"  
"Well, yes, I'd like for you to stay, at least a little bit longer," Shizune said.  
Ranma sighed, "Fine,"  
Shizune noticed Ranma's sigh, "What, you don't want to come?"  
"No, I don't," Ranma said flatly.  
"C'mon, let's stay," Naruto said, "Let's see things out to the end before we head out for Hidden Mist Village,"  
Ranma's lips became a thin line as it seemed like he was contemplating between decline Naruto's request or going along with it. Shizune couldn't help but feel a bit angry that Ranma could so easily disregard his concern of another Tsunade's welfare.  
"Maybe you shouldn't stay," Shizune said, her anger doing most of the talking, "Since it seems like you're not interested in staying, then by all means, go,"  
Ranma noticed Shizune the iciness in Shizune's voice. The comment she made reminded him of how Akane would act, usually saying things out of anger toward him even though there was no reason for her to be angry toward him in the first place.  
"All right," Ranma said after a moment.  
"All right, what?" Shizune asked, "All right as in you're going to stay. Or all right as in you're going to leave,"  
"The former," Ranma said, "We'll see this thing to the end. Let's go check up on Tsunade and make sure she's okay before we head out,"  
Shizune smiled at Ranma.  
It seemed like her assumptions of him were correct. Ranma wasn't such a bad guy, afterall.  
She watched as Ranma walked over to where Itachi still lay unconscious nearby.  
"What are you doing?" she asked. She glanced at Naruto as the young boy shrugged in reply, unaware of what Ranma was up to as well.  
Her eyes widened when she saw Ranma removing Itachi's cloak and throwing it on himself. It only took her a moment to realize what Ranma had just done. He had just stolen Itachi's cloak and was now wearing it as his own.  
"My God, you're going to steal Itachi's cloak?" Shizune said in a loud voce, taking back her thought that Ranma wasn't a bad guy, afterall.  
"Sure, why not. Heh, as if I wasn't already tough enough. Now I'm wearing armor," Ranma laughed, "This cloak's gonna come in handy,"  
He had noticed that Itachi seemed to use his cloak as some form of armor and figured it couldn't hurt him to use it as well. Afterall, he wore only regular clothes. If he wore this cloak, there was a lot less likely a chance of him getting hurt.  
"I should've worn stuff like this ages ago," Ranma smirked.  
"I can't believe you're stealing Itachi's cloak," Shizune muttered.  
"Hey, it's not like we're living in some kinda role-playing game where we can get cool crap by defeating creatures like wolves and giant bugs and stuff," Ranma said.  
"What are you talking about?" Shizune asked, feeling Ranma weirder than usually.  
"Forget it. Anyway, I thought of taking the cloak on the spur of the moment," Ranma said, "Besides, I need new clothes since Itachi cut my shirt up pretty badly. Him doing that is a blessing in disguise,"  
"But still-" Shizune complained.  
Ranma said, "Look, I'm not gonna give it back if that's what y'wanna ask me,"  
"I suppose you're going to take Kisame's sword while you're at it," Shizune said in annoyance, "Since it seems like you have no qualms stealing from others, I guess something like that wouldn't bother you as well,"  
Ranma smiled.  
"Y'know what? That's a good idea. I think I will take his sword while I'm at

it,"

new stuff 1/17

Shizune shrugged, "Well, I guess there's no reason to be angry about you taking their stuff anyway. It's not like they're going to be needing them where they're going,"  
"Oh?" Ranma perked an eyebrow.  
He watched as Shizune ducked out from under one of Jiraiya's arms. The man, while hurt from his battle with Itachi and Kisame, wasn't in such bad shape that he couldn't really stand on his own two feet. Shizune reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a dagger and started walking over toward Itachi's and Kisame's unconscious bodies.  
"They no longer need their possessions since their lives will end right here and now," Shizune stated.  
"What did you say?" Ranma asked, "Did I hear that correctly? You intend to kill Kisame and Itachi?"  
Shizune nodded, "Yes. They're dangerous people,"  
"Still, that doesn't mean you should kill them," Ranma said flatly.  
"They're S-Class criminals," Shizune said in a loud voice, "You have any idea how dangerous S-Class criminals are? You have any idea how dangerous these two are to be considered such criminals? They're extremely dangerous,"  
Ranma said, "Sorry, but S-Class criminals mean nothing to me. They're still human beings. I don't condone the killing others,"  
"What?" Shizune shouted, "You think we shouldn't kill these two? Are you nuts?"  
"No, I'm not nuts," Ranma said, his voice stern, "And if you intend to kill them, be ready to hafta get through me to get to them,"  
Shizune shouted, "Do you have any idea what you're saying? They just tried to kill you a second ago? How can you so casually let them off after something like that? You just fought them where they were trying to kill you, and now you're going to protect them?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yep,"  
"Are you serious?" Shizune asked.  
"Yeah, I am," Ranma said.  
"Ranma, I'm sure you mean well, but with a situation like this, the deaths of Itachi and Kisame would actually mean many lives would be spared," Jiraiya said, "If you let them live, they will kill many others,"  
Ranma shook his head, "Sorry, but I don't buy that. Killing should only be a last resort and in this situation, it's not a last resort,"  
"What do you propose?" Jiraiya asked, "What do you think we should do, cripple them so they will never be a threat again like sever their arms?"  
"Of course not," Ranma said, "All I know is that killing's not necessary. Perhaps we should take them into custody or something. Perhaps we can have them put in jail or whatever. It can perhaps reform them,"  
Shizune shook her head, "I'm against that. You're letting a golden opportunity for us to be rid of these two individuals slip right out from between our fingertips, all because of your sense of ethics,"  
"So?" Ranma said, "I don't care. To me, killing is a last resort,"  
"Well, in a situation like this, it is a last resort," Shizune said hotly, "We don't need people like them walking this world,"  
"You're not God," Ranma retorted, "It's not your place to say who should or shouldn't live,"  
"And you are?" Shizune snapped back, "It's not like you're God and can decide who should or shouldn't live as well,"  
Ranma said nothing.  
Shizune turned toward Naruto, "Naruto, Itachi and Kisame are after you, right?"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. They tried to abducted me about a week ago right outside Hidden Leaf Village,"  
"Well, what do you think?" Shizune asked, "Should they be killed or not? If they're killed, then you won't have to worry about constantly looking over your shoulder knowing that they're constantly coming after you,"  
Naruto said nothing. If he thought about it, it was because of those two individuals that he was here in the first place. Had they not showed up in his life, he would not be on a training trip with Ranma. Ranma turned toward Naruto, "Well? What's your opinion on this matter? Jiraiya and Shizune want Itachi and Kisame to be killed. I'm against it,"  
Naruto felt nervous under the scrutiny of Shizune and Ranma and Jiraiya as they awaited his comment. "I don't think we should have 'em killed," Naruto stated, "There's gotta be a way around having to deal with them in the future,"  
He couldn't help but feel a bit angry about himself. Selfishness was a good deciding factor for his decision. If Itachi and Kisame were killed, then there was no need for Ranma to continue training him. Afterall, he was being trained specifically to defend himself against those two individuals.  
Ranma smirked. "It seems like we are tied in our decision as to whether or not those two should be killed," Shizune stated.  
There was a moment of awkward silence.  
"How about we let them live?" Jiraiya said.  
"What? But you just said-" Shizune said.  
"We can let them live for now," Jiraiya stated, "After we find Tsunade, we can have her be the deciding factor. Since she's going to be the Hokage after this is done and over with, making a decision like that should rest on her,"  
"Forget it," Ranma said, "I'm not gonna stand around here dwelling over their lives. They're gonna live. Why? Because I said so,"  
"What?" Shizune said, "Then what was our decision making about?"  
"I was just humoring you guys," Ranma said with a shrug, "They're gonna live whether you two like it or not. If you guys don't like it, tough shit. Go get yourself a box of tissues and cry over it,"  
Shizune glared at Ranma.  
"I don't condone killing, and I'll be damned if I stand around and let it just happen right in front of me," Ranma said, "If you wanna kill them, kill them on your own, when I'm not around or have an indirect reason to their deaths. I've seen enough deaths in my life that I don't care to see two more added to that list,"  
Shizune said, "If you've seen so much, then two more shouldn't matter,"  
"What kinda crazy woman-logic is that?" Ranma said, "And frankly, I find it rather ironic that I'm the one trying to convince you not to kill. Isn't it usually the other way around, where the guy wants to kill someone but the girl is trying to prevent him from doing so?"  
"Is that supposed to be a sexist remark?" Shizune started getting angry, "And I'm positive that you'll never see me trying to prevent anyone from killing those two,"  
Jiraiya said, "Ranma, I'm sure you mean well, but those two are very dangerous,"  
Ranma threw his hands up in the air, "Argh! Fuck it!"  
He started walking away in an Eastward direction.  
"Where are you going?" Naruto asked.  
"I'm leaving," Ranma said, "Go ahead and kill them,"  
"What about Tsunade?" Shizune asked, "Aren't we going to go check to see if she's all right?"  
"No, I'm not," Ranma said, "I'm leaving. If you're gonna go kill them, then I want nothing to do with any of you people. I detest people like you and don't wanna ever see you again. If we ever cross each other's paths in the street, take care to cross it to avoid me,"  
"What?" Shizune and Jiraiya said.  
"What about me?" Naruto pointed toward himself.  
Ranma gave Naruto a sad smile, "Nah, I wasn't talking about you, just Shizune and Jiraiya. You're okay,"  
"Are you still gonna train me?" Naruto asked.  
"No," Ranma said, "I'm not,"  
Naruto said nothing for a moment, "Why not? I haven't learned the ki-blast yet. I've still got a long way to go with my training. There's so much you can teach me,"  
"You'll do fine," Ranma said, "The only reason I've been training you is to make you capable of defending yourself against Itachi and Kisame. With them gone, there's no worry of them coming after you anymore,"  
"But-" Naruto said.  
"Just have Jiraiya or Tsunade or whoever train you," Ranma said, "Because Itachi and Kisame will no longer be in your life, there's no need to worry about getting your fighting skills up so that you may one day deal with them when they come after you,"  
"Let me get this straight," Jiraiya said, "You're not going to train Naruto anymore if we kill them?"  
"Right," Ranma nodded.  
"What kind of ultimatum is that?" Shizune shouted, "Naruto has no part in this. Why should he suffer the consequences because we choose to kill Itachi and Kisame?"  
Ranma said, "Because, if they're not around anymore, there's no need for me to train Naruto. That's the whole reason why I'm training him in the first place, so that he could protect himself if he is ever forced to deal with 'em face-to-  
face,"  
Shizune said, "Why don't you continue to train him anyway? It's obvious that he's learning a great deal from you. Just because he no longer has to worry about Itachi or Kisame trying to abduct him, that shouldn't mean you no longer train him,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Says you,"  
"Why?" she asked.  
"Because, if I'm in a world where the 'good-guys' would no hesitate to kill, then I want to leave this world as soon as possible," Ranma said flatly, "If the people of this world condones such things, then I want nothing to do with this world,"  
"World?" Jiraiya asked, "You say that like you have somewhere else to go besides this world,"  
Ranma said, "Sorry, but you guys know nothing about me. To me, going to a different world is akin to you going to another village. I've been to so many worlds I've lost count,"  
Shizune and Jiraiya looked at one another in confusion. Naruto scratched his head, every bit as confused.  
"Look, it doesn't matter where I'm from or who I am or who I was," Ranma said, "I've already told you my feelings, Jiraiya looked at Naruto, "Naruto, what do you think?"  
Naruto was silent for a good minute before he said, "I think it's a gyp. I wanna keep learning from Ranma-niisan and I don't think they should be killed. Of course, that doesn't seem to matter since you both intend to kill them anyway and I end up no longer being trained by Ranma anymore,"  
Ranma said, "So what if I'm not the one training you? I'm sure others will be more than willing to teach you,"  
"Naruto, I can train you," Jiraiya said, "It'll be like before Ranma showed up,"  
Naruto said, "But I rather learn from Ranma,"  
"Naruto, I'm not some kinda super-sensei," Ranma said, "Your progress in your training depends on how hard to work at it, not how good a teacher I am,"  
"Still-" Naruto hung his head low.  
Jiraiya took a glance toward Naruto and knew exactly why Naruto seemed to have taken a liking to learning from Ranma. Never having had a family, Naruto seemed to look at Ranma like a brother. Ranma, while obviously older than both Jiraiya and Shizune on the inside, looked slightly older than Naruto on the outside. He noticed Shizune's grip on her dagger tightening. It seemed like she didn't like being in the situation Ranma had just placed upon her. Naruto's training depended on whether or not Itachi and Kisame lived. Tsunade had mentioned that Naruto definitely had the potential to become Hokage one day. It could all be because of Ranma's training. She turned toward Jiraiya, "What do you think?"  
Jiraiya glanced at Naruto for a moment. The young boy was becoming a very skilled fighter, all thanks to Ranma's training. There was an aura of skill to him that wasn't evident a little over a week ago. Should he deny Naruto the training he wants so badly and is benefiting from greatly?  
After a moment, Jiraiya realized he could not. Afterall, he had a soft spot for the young boy, much like Tsunade and Shizune.  
Jiraiya looked at Shizune.  
"Let's let them live,"

new stuff 1/18

Ranma and the others jumped from branch to branch as they headed North through a thick forest. Jiraiya wasn't with the group, still hurt from his battle with Itachi and Kisame and not wanting to slow the group down. He had told them he would catch up with them later.  
"Don't worry, Ranma, you have my word that I will not use this as an opportunity to go back and assassinate Itachi and Kisame while they're still unconscious," Jiraiya had told them before Ranma and Shizune and Naruto they split up and ran on ahead.  
The pig, Ton-Ton, ended up being left behind with Jiraiya.  
"That cloak looks weird on you," Naruto commented.  
Ranma said, "So?"  
"Naruto is right," Shizune commented, "It does look weird on you,"  
"So?" Ranma repeated.  
"Why would you want to use it as armor anyway?" Naruto asked, "It's not like you really need it anyway. I'm sure you're tougher than whatever kinda protection that cloak provides,"  
Ranma said, "I'm not really using the cloak for protection so to speak. I'm just using it to cover myself up. My shirt was shredded in that battle against Itachi and Kisame. Rather than walk around shirtless, I'm gonna go around wearing this cloak until I get a new one,"  
"You're shirtless under that cloak?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. While I don't particularly care if I walk around shirtless or not, I figure it'd be better if I be a bit considerate and cover myself up,"  
"Well, at least you didn't take the sword," Naruto said, "It would seem even more weird seeing you carrying that sword while wearing that cloak,"  
Ranma hadn't taken Kisame's sword with him. He didn't need a sword anyway.  
Instead, Ranma put the sword somewhere so that Kisame would not be able to get to it easily. He had thrown it into the ground with all his might, slicing the sword deep into the ground where it became buried a good hundred or so feet down below. As the three of them continued to run along, the couldn't help but hear loud explosions. "Do you think those noises are coming from Tsunade's and Orochimaru's battle?" Naruto asked, his heart starting to racing in anticipation.  
"Sounds like it," Ranma stated with a smile.  
The three of them came to a found themselves unable to head North anymore when they emerged from the forest and out onto a clearing. This was because the clearing led right up to a cliff overlooking a large valley roughly a mile in diameter several hundred feet below. "Look!" Shizune gestured, pointing toward two huge creatures facing one another in the middle of the valley. "Whoa, is that a giant snake?" Ranma's eyes widened in surprise, "And is that a giant slug?"  
Although it usually took a lot to surprise Ranma, what Ranma was seeing surprised the heck out of him. The giant valley seemed to act as a massive battlefield as a giant slug and a giant snake attacked one another. The creatures themselves were massive in size, even from the group's vantage point far away from the heat of battle.  
"Man, I thought I've seen it all," Ranma grinned, "but it seems like I haven't. I can't wait till I get back home and tell them what I saw. 'Hey, guys, I saw a giant slug and a giant snake attacking one another in the middle of a valley',"  
"That's Manda and Katsuyu!" Shizune gasped.  
"Manda and Katsuyu?" Ranma and Naruto asked.  
"Manda is the giant snake," Shizune said, "Katsuyu is the giant slug. The snake is Orochimaru's summons. The giant slug is Tsunade's summons,"  
"Wow, are they summons like Gamabunta?" Naruto asked.  
Shizune looked at Naruto for a moment before she nodded. "Gamabunta? Isn't Gamabunta that giant frog your were talking about that you said you knew how to summon?" Ranma asked Naruto, "Of course, you messed it up and ended up summoning some kind small frog?"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. And for your information, I couldn't summon him because I haven't had enough practice doing so,"  
Ranma smirked. He looked at the two creatures in the valley below, "So, Orochimaru's summons is a snake, huh? How come I'm not all that surprised? Bad-  
guys seem to always have a thing for snakes. Snakes seem to have a bad rap because bad-guys always seem to like them," He scratched his head, "Now a slug, I've never seen something like that before. It kinda goes against the way I view things. I figure a 'good-guy' would summon something like a dragon, or a bear, or a tiger, or a lion. And a 'bad-guy' would summon something like a snake, or a lizard, or a spider, or any kinda insect or reptile for that matter,"  
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.  
"Forget it," Ranma said. "There's Orochimaru and Tsunade!" Shizune pointed, "If you look hard enough, you can see them standing on the top of their summons' heads,"  
Ranma looked on the top of the giant snake's head and saw a man. He recognized that man as the person he had seen attacking the Hokage about a week ago on top of the stadium. While he had never met the guy before, Ranma was sure that that was Orochimaru. And standing on top of the slug's head was Tsunade. The giant slug could be seen constantly shooting some green liquid from what seemed like its mouth and toward the snake as the snake moved with lightning speed, dodging the deadly projectile. It seemed like the slug was shooting out some kind of acidic liquid for both offensive and defensive purposes, keeping the snake at bay. The liquid that splattered on the trees nearby the snake could be seen disintegrating the tress down into nothing.  
The snake didn't seem to have much trouble dodging the attacks as it moved with lightning quick reflexes.  
"Man, that snake moves as fast as hell," Ranma whistled in admiration.  
"We have to help Tsunade out!" Shizune said.  
"Why?" Ranma asked, glancing down into the valley down below, "It seems like Tsunade's fine. I don't see any wounds or such on her. Tsunade's a tough girl. That's why I didn't really wanna come here, because I figure it'd be a waste of time. She can take care of herself,"  
"We should still help," Shizune said.  
"How?" Ranma asked, "It seems to me that she's handling herself just fine,"  
In a blink of an eye, the snake somehow managed to maneuver its way through the barrage of green projectiles and wrap itself around the slug like the way a python would around its prey, as if intent on squeezing the life out of the slug.  
"Wow," Ranma said as the slug seemed to mysterious divide into hundreds of thousands if tiny slugs, slipping right out from the snake's grasp and quickly reform into a giant slug again out of harm's way, spewing another stream of acidic projectiles at the snake again, forcing it to quickly slither backwards and to a safe distance.  
Tsunade, whom had been on top of the slug's head when it divided, simply jumped away from the snake where it landed right on top of the slug as it reformed a safe distance away.  
"Wow, it seems like that slug and Tsunade work very well together," Ranma said.  
"Hey, that's Kabuto!" Naruto shouted, pointing.  
Ranma looked in the direction Naruto was pointing and caught a glimpse of Kabuto as he could be seen slowly making his way toward the two battling creatures through the thick blanket of trees.  
"Kabuto? Isn't that the guy you mentioned that knows of Tsunade's phobia with blood?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, that's why we knew about it, because I found out from him, why?"  
Man, that's very strange, Ranma thought. Why the heck is Kabuto conscious? I know I hit him hard enough back inside the restaurant to have knocked his lights out for a few hours. How can he be up and about not even a half-hour since Naruto and I encountered him? It doesn't make sense.  
"You've got to stop him!" Shizune said, "If he knows of her weakness, he and Orochimaru might be able to exploit it if they work together,"  
"Fine," Ranma said. He extended an arm downward into the valley and shot a ki-blast. The ki-blast erupted from Ranma's hand, rocketing down toward the valley down below. The projectile exploded right by where Kabuto was, Ranma having calculated exactly where Kabuto would be and where he needed to shoot his ki-blast. The ki-blast struck the area right near Kabuto, sending him flying bodily through the air where he slammed against a tree and fell down to the ground unconscious.  
Ranma had calculated exactly where Kabuto would be and how close he needed to have a ki-blast explode near him so that Kabuto's proximity to the explosion would send him flying into a tree and knock him unconscious.  
"Heh, that punk didn't know what hit him," Ranma smirked.  
"My God, I can't believe how easy you make it look," Shizune commented, "To do something like that is no small feat,"  
"Thanks," Ranma smiled, "I'll take that as a compliment. And you're right, it's not as easy as it looks. If it exploded, a bit too close, it would've killed him. A bit too far away and it wouldn'tve been effective enough to knock him out,"  
"Any way you can shoot one of your ki-blasts to help out Tsunade?" Shizune asked, "Perhaps you can use it as a form of distraction Tsunade can use to her advantage,"  
Ranma said, "No,"  
"No? Why not?" she asked.  
"It could distract Tsunade and that slug she's on," Ranma said, "The outcome could be the exact opposite of what you want. Besides, I don't wanna help,"  
"Why not?" she asked.  
"She's doing fine on her own," Ranma said, "It's basically a one-on-one fight and I don't wanna interfere,"  
"C'mon, just help her out," Shizune said.  
"Fine," Ranma said. He figured it was better to just help out Tsunade instead of argue with Shizune. She watched as Ranma placed both hands on the ground.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" he said.  
All of a sudden, in the middle of the valley, the ground below the snake exploded upward. Trees could be seen flying in every direction away from the point of explosion. The snake seemed to have gotten caught by surprised which provided Tsunade and the slug she was on the window of opportunity they needed.  
They watched as the slug shot out a spew of liquid at the now-distracted snake, the liquid hitting it all over its body. The snake could be seen writhing in pain as the liquid seemed to burn its body, inadvertently throwing Orochimaru off the top of its head as it writhed in agony.  
"Hey, Orochimaru got thrown off," Naruto pointed.  
They watched as the snake seemed to disappear in a massive cloud of smoke.  
"Wow, that giant snake was some kinda clone?" Ranma asked, recalling having seen Naruto clones disappear in the same fashion.  
"No, it went back to its own realm," Shizune said, "It seems to have taken too much damage and no longer wants to fight and left this world to heal,"  
"Ah," Ranma said.  
"It seems like Orochimaru's defeated," Naruto grinned.  
They watched as the slug also disappeared in similar fashion as the snake, Tsunade jumping off its head and landing right by where Orochimaru and landed from the fall.  
Orochimaru could be seen saying something to Tsunade, most likely taunting her and telling her that he would be back to kill her another day.  
"I wonder what kinda clich Orochimaru is saying to her right now 'You may have won the battle, but you're not going to win the war'," Ranma chuckled.  
Orochimaru suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind Tsunade as she stood in the middle of the devastated battlefield.  
Ranma whistled loudly. Because of the way the valley was, he could be easily heard as his whistling echoed, catching Tsunade's attention. She could be seen looking around, wondering where that noise came from. When she spotted the group standing on the cliff, she waved.  
"Come on, let's head down," Shizune said, "Let's meet up with her,"  
Shizune could be seen climbing over the edge of the cliff, about to climb down and into the valley far down below.  
"What, you intend to climb all the way down?" Ranma smirked, "We're several hundred feet up and this cliff is almost completely vertical all the way down into the valley. It'll take a good hour to climb down that way,"  
"Well, it's not like we can jump down," Shizune said.  
"Why not?" Ranma asked, "It's much quicker than climbing down, that's for sure,"  
"In case you haven't noticed, we're several hundred feet above the valley floor," Shizune said, "We're way too high up. Jumping down from here is suicide,"  
"For you maybe," Ranma smirked, "A several hundred drop is nothing for me. Heck, I betcha I can fall from outer space and land okay. Of course, burning up on re-entry is something that makes me not wanna try it out first hand, but y'get the picture,"  
Shizune and Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma held his hands out to Naruto and Shizune.  
"C'mon, let's go,"

"Wow, that was incredible! Can we do that again?" Naruto's eyes were wide with excitement. The thrill of freefalling several hundred feet was incredible, a feeling he and a few others had ever experienced.  
Ranma smirked at Naruto. While something like that would seem very scary to a young boy, it seemed like Naruto didn't seem to fear the thought of dying from such a high fall and enjoyed the descent instead. It seemed like Naruto trusted Ranma so much that he believed he was in no danger of getting hurt since Ranma said that they would be all right.  
He glanced toward Tsunade as she had this stunned look on her face. What she had witness seemed to have defied her sense of logic. Ranma, carrying Shizune and Naruto, had made a running leap off the cliff and landed right by where Tsunade had been. She had watched as Ranma arced through the sky and landed not ten feet away from her.  
He simply smiled at her as she just stared at him in shock.  
The four of them were standing in the middle of a devastated portion of the valley that used to be nothing but trees, all the trees destroyed as they were crushed under the immense bodies of both Orochimaru's and Tsunade's summons during battle.  
Glancing over toward Shizune, Ranma noticed she looked visibly shaken, like it was an experience that scared the wits out of her.  
"You okay?" Ranma asked her.  
"Um, yes, but I just need a minute to catch my breath," she said, leaning up against a nearby tree.  
Shizune had never felt the sensation of freefalling before and it terrified her. This was because she believed it was a sensation she would feel moments before becoming nothing more than a stain on the ground upon impact.  
Naruto looked up toward the side of the cliff, "Oh man, I can't believe you jumped down from that height. Heck, I can't believe you managed to jump that far. That cliff must be close to half a mile away,"  
"Yeah, falling from high places and being able to land safely definitely comes in handy," Ranma grinned.  
"Seems so," Naruto concurred, "Can you teach me how to do that?"  
"Man, you just wanna learn everything, dontcha?" Ranma smirked, "It kinda makes me wonder if you're that enthusiastic about learning stuff at school,"  
Naruto made a face, "I hate learning stuff like that. I like learning cool stuff like what you're teaching me,"  
Ranma laughed. Tsunade, finally able to get over her shock, approached the group.  
"That was incredible," Tsunade said, "I'm still in awe over what I just witnessed. That must've been a leap of over a quarter of a mile and a drop of several hundred feet,"  
"Thanks," Ranma smiled.  
"We're glad you're all right," Shizune said to Tsunade, "What happened to Orochimaru?"  
"He's escaped," Tsunade said in annoyance, "I should've killed him while I had the chance,"  
"With Ranma's help, you sure made short work of him," Shizune smiled.  
Tsunade narrowed her eyes toward Ranma, "So it was you that interfered with my battle. I had everything under control. I didn't need your help," Ranma turned toward Shizune, "See? I told you that she didn't need my help,"  
"What are you doing here anyway?" Tsunade asked, "Where's Jiraiya?"  
"Jiraiya's recovering from his battle with Itachi and Kisame," Shizune stated, "He's okay and on his way here. We went on ahead,"  
"I'm glad to hear that," Tsunade said, "Jiraiya looked like he had his work cut out for him dealing with the likes of Kisame and Itachi. They're both very dangerous,"  
"They're pretty tough opponents," Ranma stated, "Itachi especially. Surprised me a few times with some of the things he's capable of doing. Jiraiya was having trouble with 'em so I jumped in and helped out,"  
"What happened to them?" Tsunade asked. "They're knocked out somewhere," Shizune said.  
"They're still alive?" Tsunade asked, "Why didn't you kill them? They're very dangerous and shouldn't be allowed to live,"  
"That's what Jiraiya and I said," Shizune said, "But Ranma wanted them to live and it seemed to have persuaded Jiraiya to let them live as well,"  
"I don't believe in killing," Ranma said, "Sure, they're dangerous, but it's still the taking of human lives,"  
Tsunade glared at Ranma for a moment.  
"I respect your beliefs, but your letting them live was probably a big mistake," Tsunade said, "They're S-Class criminals and have killed many many people before. Because they still live, it will mean many more lives will die until those two're killed,"  
Ranma said nothing.  
Tsunade waved a dismissive hand, "Look, forget about it. It's no use dwelling on it now,"  
"Where'd you get that cloak?" Tsunade asked Ranma, "It looks weird on you,"  
She recognized that cloak. It had belonged to Itachi. She assumed he had somehow stolen it from Itachi while the young man was unconscious.  
"Man, everyone's a critic nowadays, huh?" Ranma smirked.  
"I'm glad you're all right," Shizune said to Tsunade, "We were worried that you might be in trouble,"  
"I can take care of myself, thank you," Tsunade said, "I was able to handle Orochimaru fine on my own. Ranma's interference simply sped up the inevitable, Orochimaru's defeat. Keep in mind Orochimaru can barely use his arms. Heck, summoning took a lot out of him,"  
Shizune said, "I guess I was worried about nothing,"  
Ranma jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "How do you think you would've done against Orochimaru and Kabuto? I saw Kabuto making his way to where you two were fighting,"  
"He was?" Tsunade was surprised. She remembered Kabuto. He had been with Orochimaru when Orochimaru approached her asking for her help a week ago. He had been next to Orochimaru when Orochimaru made that deal with her, that he would bring back to life two very important people in her life in exchange for her help in healing his arms.  
"Don't worry about him, I knocked him out," Ranma said, "He didn't know what hit him,"  
"Interesting," Tsunade said, "That Kabuto guy seemed like a very strong person," "He didn't seem all that strong to me," Naruto commented.  
"You know of him?" Tsunade asked.  
"I fought him not even an hour ago, in a restaurant," Naruto said, "I betcha I would've defeated him if Ranma didn't jump in like he did shortly after we started fighting,"  
Tsunade was silent for a moment. Naruto looked perfectly fine, unscathed. If what Naruto was saying was true, and he fought Kabuto and was able to hold his own against that man, then that meant Naruto was growing by leaps and bounds.  
"Sure, I had to take off my vest to fight him, but I'm pretty sure I would've been able to take him," Naruto said confidently, smiling.  
"Vest?" Tsunade asked, "Oh, that weighted vest of yours?"  
Naruto nodded. He lifted up the front of his shirt to reveal the weighted vest underneath. Shizune's eyes widened in surprised at the sight of the vest. She had completely forgotten that Naruto wore a vest. Naruto moved like he was unhindered by extra weight on his body. Heck, the young boy was able to keep up a moderately quick pace as they ran to meet up with Tsunade. Sure, he was slower than Shizune and Ranma, but his speed was liken to any regular young ninja his age.  
"How much does that vest weigh anyway?" Tsunade asked. She had forgotten about the vest as well.  
Naruto shrugged, "I dunno. Ranma-niisan won't tell me. He says it's really heavy,"  
Tsunade walked over toward Naruto and picked him up. This surprised the young boy.  
"Hey, whatcha doing?" Naruto squirmed around in her arms, much to no avail. Before he knew it, he was back on his feet again, Tsunade putting him down, "What was that for?"  
"How much do you weigh?" Tsunade asked.  
"I dunno, around ninety pounds, why?" Naruto asked.  
Tsunade glanced toward Ranma, a look of surprise on her visage. She had lifted Naruto up to figure out how much he weighed in her arms and deducted his body weight to figure out the weight of the vest he was wearing. When she realized how heavy the vest was, she couldn't help but be shocked.  
Ranma lifted a finger to his lips and made a 'Shh' motion with his lips, indicating that he doesn't want Naruto to know of how light or heavy the vest was. One of the key aspects of training with a weighted vest was not having the wearer know of the weight he or she was constantly carrying.  
She cast Ranma a glance. Something else struck her. Ranma had been carrying Naruto and his weighted vest and Shizune in his arms when he made that super-  
long jump from the cliff to where she was, an incredible feat of strength.  
"Why'd you pick me up like that?" Naruto asked.  
"Um, I was just curious as to how much the vest weighed, that's all," she stated.  
"Really? How much do you think it weighs?" Naruto asked, "I have no idea how heavy it is,"  
"It's a good weight for you," Tsunade decided to make her reply cryptic, so that the boy would have no idea as to the vest's actual weight.  
"Do you have an actual number?" Naruto asked, "I can't even tell if the vest weighs fifty pounds or five hundred pounds,"  
Tsunade smirked, "Don't worry about it. It'll be a surprise when it's revealed how much it weighs. I'm sure you'll be in for a surprise,"  
"Hmph," Naruto muttered. He had been very curious and had wanted to know. Tsunade was just like Ranma, not caring to reveal the actual weight of the vest.  
Ranma said to Tsunade, "Look, since it seems like you're all right and everyone around here got through that ordeal with Orochimaru and Itachi and Kisame intact, I guess this is where we should split up,"  
"Split up?" Tsunade asked, "Where are you going?"  
"East, toward Hidden Mist Village," Ranma said, "Naruto and I are on our way there. We just hung around for a bit to make sure you're okay, and since you are, we might as well get going,"  
Shizune said, "Just like that you're going to leave?"  
"I wanted to leave before," Ranma said, "We only hung around because Shizune asked us to,"  
Tsunade smiled, "Well, I appreciate the gesture, but it's not necessary. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," "I figured," Ranma smirked. He turned toward Naruto, "Naruto, I guess it's best we get going now,"  
"Um, okay," Naruto said, wondering what adventures awaited the two of them. "Before we go, isn't there something you wanna show Tsunade?" Ranma asked, remembering the wager.  
"Oh yeah," Naruto realized.  
Ranma turned toward Tsunade and Shizune, "You girls have around a half-hour to spare? Naruto's gonna try and shoot a ki-blast like he intended. Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of time for him to draw in the necessary ki to do so. Do you mind waiting around while Naruto meditates?"  
Tsunade and Shizune looked at one another.  
"Sure," they said, "We don't mind,"  
Ranma smirked at Naruto.  
"All right, the stage is yours,"

New stuff 1/19

Naruto skipped along happily.  
He and Ranma were heading Eastward, Shizune and Tsunade no longer around, the four of them having split and gone their separate directions.  
"I won! I won!" Naruto said happily.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "Congratulations. It's too bad that Tsunade spent all the money you had in that frog coin bag of yours. Since we have no money, I guess I should sell this cloak of mine for money,"  
Naruto, much to Ranma's surprise, had shot his very first ki-blast on his own. While nowhere near what it was supposed to be in size and scope, he had shot one on his very own.  
"It looked no larger than the size of a fist though," Naruto said.  
"Yeah, and it'd probably no more than that of one had it hit," Ranma chuckled, "But regardless of that, you did it, you actually shot a ki-blast,"  
Naruto smiled happily.  
Ranma smirked, "Don't get too happy. You still've got a long way to go,"  
"I know, but I'm happy anyway," Naruto cheered, "Didja see the shocked look on Shizune's and Tsunade's faces?"  
Ranma nodded, "Seeing how shocked they looked actually made staying around training you seem worthwhile,"  
"I can't wait to get really good at this," Naruto grinned, "I'm gonna kick that Itachi's ass with it,"  
"Good luck," Ranma chuckled, "Itachi just got a helluva lot stronger since we last met him,"  
"How so?"  
"He used the Bakusai Tenketsu Revised technique on me," Ranma said, "He learned how to use it after seeing me use it on him. That must mean he also knows how to use my Hiryu Shoten Ha and my Mouko Takabisha as well,"  
Naruto felt this eerie feeling of depression hovering over his head. "That Itachi is turning out to be an interesting fellow," Ranma smirked, "I look forward to sparring against him again,"  
"Sparring? Again? You considered that fight with him and Kisame some kinda sparring session?" Naruto gasped.  
"Yep," Ranma said, "The only person I've ever truly fought against with all my might is Ryoga. And frankly, Itachi doesn't compare to Ryoga,"  
Naruto said, "Man, I'd really like to meet this Ryoga person one day,"  
"Sorry, but he lives on a different world," Ranma said, "The same world I call home. And I'm not talking about a different planet or such. I mean a different 'world', as in a different universe,"  
"Just how strong are you anyway?" Naruto asked, "If you considered your fight with Itachi and Kisame nothing more than a simple sparring session, then just how powerful are you anyway? And don't give me any of this 'Really strong' answer. Can't you show me a demonstration or such?"  
Ranma grinned, "That interested in finding out, huh?"  
"Yeah," Naruto said, "Shoot your biggest ki-blast ever or something. We don't hafta worry about drawing attention to ourselves because we're out in the middle of nowhere and Itachi and Kisame are probably still unconscious,"  
"I guess you have a point," Ranma said.  
"So you're gonna show me?" Naruto looked excited, "You're gonna give me a demonstration of your most powerful ki-blast?"  
Ranma shrugged, "Sure. I guess it can't hurt, but first, I need to find a place where I can shoot it off without inadvertently killing anything or destroying mass amounts of vegetation,"  
Naruto pointed toward the horizon, "How about that mountain top? It's pretty desolate. We can climb to the top of that mountain and you can shoot straight up. Would that do?"  
Ranma looked at Naruto for a moment before looking over toward the mountain.  
"All right, that sounds like a good plan,"

"You tired?" Ranma asked Naruto.  
"No way!" Naruto said, "I can't wait to see what you've got,"  
Ranma and Naruto were standing near the highest point of the mountain they were on. They were standing on a peak a few hundred feet away from the highest point on the mountain. It was very late at night, nearing midnight. The sky was clear and full of stars.  
Ranma smiled at Naruto as he regarded the young boy. "Man, we're really gonna hafta slap on the weights when we reach the next village along our journey," Ranma said.  
Naruto's eyes widened, "Wait, was our climbing this mountain disguised as a form of training for me?"  
"More or less," Ranma said.  
Naruto looked down at himself, "Wow, now that I think about it, I forgot about the vest completely. Man, I can't believe how quickly I'm getting used to the weights. I had trouble jumping up and landing on a rooftop back around noontime, and now, I'm climbing mountains,"  
Ranma chuckled, "Right,"  
"So what does that mean, you're not gonna show me your most powerful ki-  
blast?" Naruto complained, "That's a gyp because I was really looking forward to seeing it. If you don't, then that means you lied,"  
Ranma shook his head, "No, don't worry about it. I wasn't lying. I'll show it to you like I said,"  
Naruto grinned, "I can't wait,"  
"Wait here," Ranma said, gesturing toward a peak a few hundred feet away from where they current were, the highest peak on the mountain, "I'm gonna head on over onto that peak and shoot a ki-blast from there. That way, you can get a good view of it,"  
"Okay," Naruto said.  
He watched as Ranma made a quick leap off the edge of the peak, arcing through the sky, landing by that peak. He quickly climbed up the rest of the way to the top where Naruto could get a good view of Ranma.  
"Ready?" he heard Ranma shouting out loudly.  
"Yeah!" Naruto shouted back, heart racing with excitement.  
He watched as Ranma cupped both hands and brought them down by his right hip. A second later, Naruto saw a glowing orb suddenly appear within his cupped hands.  
The peak Ranma was standing on flickered yellow from the light source within his hands provided, making peak look very much like a lit candle.  
"Beam Seppukku Mouko Takabisha!" he heard Ranma's shouted.  
Ranma extended both of his hands outward, letting loose a massive beam of ki straight toward the sky. The beam glowed blue and looked very much like a giant laser beam roughly ten feet in diameter.  
"Ahhhh!" Ranma shouted as he forced out more of his ki.  
The beam expanded outward and an incredible rate, eventually reaching a hundred feet in diameter, continuing to travel from his hands like that of a gigantic laser beam.  
Naruto watched with wide eyes as Ranma moved his arms skyward so that the beam of ki shot straight up.  
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" he heard Ranma's shout as he force out all the ki within him.  
The beam expanded immensely, taking up the entire sky. Naruto fell down onto his backside as he looked straight up and saw nothing but ki, the beam extending outward so much that it even reached well beyond where Naruto had been observing.  
Naruto gasped at the how large in diameter the beam ki-blast was, believing it to be somewhere near a mile in diameter, perhaps even more. From Naruto's vantage point, it looked like he was seeing a large sphere extending upward from Ranma's skyward hands. What he was really seeing was merely the underside of the beam as it shot upwards.  
He found himself even more shocked when he saw the diameter of the beam expanded even more, expanding to twice the size.  
The entire mountain and the valley surrounding it could be seen lit brightly, the ki-blast providing a source of light akin to the sun. Everyone within a hundred miles of the mountain could easily see the beam of light and were most likely shocked and curious at what it could possibly be.  
The beam lasted for a good few seconds at full intensity before faded away, disappearing beyond the heavens, the mountaintop and valley surrounding it plunged back into darkness.  
Several minutes passed, Naruto was finally able to banish the feeling of shock and compose himself. He quickly got back up to his feet, feeling a great sense of awe.  
The blast itself had been so large that it could probably consume the entire Hidden Leaf Village in a single blast. To have that kind of power was mind-  
boggling.  
"Oh man!" Naruto said, "I can't believe he's that damn powerful,"  
He glanced over toward the cliff top where Ranma had been standing on.  
"That was incredible, Ranma-niisan!" Naruto shouted out loudly for him to hear.  
There was no answer. Naruto noticed he couldn't even see Ranma. "Ranma?"

"Ugh..."  
Ranma rubbed at his head as he sat upright.  
Damn, that's the last time I go all-out and beyond with ki-blast demonstration, Ranma thought.  
Looking down at himself, he noticed he was clad in his shredded shirt and that he no longer had a cloak on. It made him wonder what happened to it.  
Looking around, he noticed he was in some kind of bedroom and that he was in a bed. He was a bit confused as to where he was or how he got there. He noticed Naruto sleeping on a bed near the corner of the room. There were no signs of the cloak anywhere.  
Glancing out the window next to his bed, he noticed that it was morning out and that there were buildings all about.  
We must in a some village, Ranma thought. But what village are we in? How the heck did we get here?  
Naruto yawned, slowly opening his eyes after a moment, stretching out in his bed.  
"Morning," Ranma smirked as Naruto sat upright and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.  
"You're awake!" Naruto shouted, a look of relief on his face.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "How long was I out? What happened?"  
"Three days," Naruto answered, "I was about to ask you the same thing. After you demonstrated that ki-blast of yours, I found you unconscious. I didn't know what to do so I carried you all the way back to Hidden Leaf Village. I knew Tsunade and Shizune were on their way here and that Tsunade has some kinda knowledge about healing so I figured I'd ask her for her help,"  
"W-we're back in Hidden Leaf Village? We're all the way back in your home village?" Ranma gasped.  
"I didn't know what to do," Naruto replied, "I thought you were hurt or something and figured the only person that could help was Tsunade. Since we split up, I figured I'd find Tsunade back in Hidden Leaf Village since she told us she and Shizune planned on heading back there when we split up,"  
Ranma sighed, "Don't worry about it. It's just surprising. That's all. I didn't expect to find myself back in Hidden Leaf Village. Did you find Tsunade?"  
"Yeah," Naruto nodded, "She checked you out and said you were only sleeping and you needed some rest,"  
"Okay," Ranma said, "I guess I better go talk to her later and tell her thanks. So, you carried me for three days? You mean you carried me off the mountain we were on and all the way to this village?"  
Naruto nodded.  
"Jeez," Ranma said, "I'm not a light person. For you to carry me must've been really hard. Didja carry me while wearing the vest or didja dump the vest to lighten the load so you can carry me?"  
Naruto lifted the front of his shirt to reveal his vest, "I kept the vest on can carried you. Yeah, it was very hard, but I kept telling myself that it was yet another part of my training,"  
Ranma laughed.  
"That was incredible, that ki-blast you shot out," Naruto said, "Didja know that people all the way here in Hidden Leaf Village actually saw that blast? That's very far away,"  
Ranma said, "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure people from hundreds of miles away saw that blast. The blast itself, while very powerful, is useful as a form of signal,"  
"I figure," Naruto said, "Do you think I'll ever be able to do something like that?"  
Ranma smirked, "Yeah, if you train hard enough. Everything I do you are capable of doing given the proper time and training,"  
"That's awesome," Naruto said.  
Ranma just smiled.  
"What happened to you back there anyway? Why were you unconscious?" Naruto asked curiously.  
Ranma gave a sheepish smile, "I kinda pushed myself way beyond even my own limits,"  
"How?" Naruto asked.  
"Let's just say that I would've been fine shooting out all the ki I drew in," Ranma said, "But what do I do? I go beyond that and shoot out all my internal ki as well. In the end, I exhausted myself shooting out all my internal and external ki and basically fell unconscious doing so,"  
"Jeez," Naruto said, "You looked like you were in some kind of coma or such. I was really worried,"  
Ranma smirked, "So you take me to a hotel? If you thought I was in a coma, wouldn't you take me to some kinda hospital instead?"  
"I was about to take you to the hospital after I carried you into the village," Naruto said, "But I figure it would've been easier just put you in a hotel and head to the Main Building, where Tsunade's residence is now that she's taken the role of the Hokage, and get her to come here,"  
"Ah," Ranma said.  
"She checked you out and said you were sleeping," Naruto said, "She suggested I just leave you alone and let you sleep it off. I explained what you were doing and she believes that you basically exhausted yourself out and simply needed sleep to regain your energy,"  
"That's basically it," Ranma said, "I did exhaust myself,"  
"Oh yeah, we had no money so I sold your cloak," Naruto said, "Tsunade spent all the money in my frog coin bag and we needed money to get this hotel room. I tried complaining to Tsunade when I saw her last night about giving me my money back but she said the frog coin bag was empty when she took it from me in the first place. What a bunch of crock. She's the Hokage but steals money from kids,"  
Ranma snickered. "Well, I guess that explains what happened to the cloak. I was wondering what happened to it when I noticed it missing," Ranma said.  
Naruto said, "I remember you saying something about selling your cloak to get some money before so I went ahead and sold it. I hope you don't mind,"  
Ranma chuckled, "I'm fine with it. Don't worry about it. I'm surprised to picked up on that. You're pretty observant to have remembered my saying that. How much money do we have?"  
Naruto said, "We have quite a bit. That cloak was made of some kinda rare material that was worth a lot,"  
"Cool," Ranma said.  
Naruto was silent for a moment, seemingly on the verge of tears, "I was really worried you weren't going to wake up. If I knew that this was gonna happen, I wouldn'tve asked you to show off like that,"  
Ranma gave a soft smile, "Don't worry about it. All I did was exhaust myself completely and fell unconscious doing so. You said you wanted to see my most powerful ki-blast and I showed it to you. Of course, I ended up pushing myself well beyond my limits and falling unconscious in the process,"  
Naruto smiled softly, "Well, I'm glad you're all right,"  
"Thanks," Ranma said, getting up out of his bed.  
He rubbed at his shoulder. He felt refreshed and like a new man. That three days sleep had done him wonders. "Now that it seems like you're all right, does that mean we're going to continue on with our journey East toward Hidden Mist Village?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. But first, we get some supplies and stuff. For instance, we need to get some new weights added onto your vest and I need a new shirt. You haven't removed or added weights to your vest since last time, right?"  
Naruto shook his head, "No. I left the vest alone,"  
Ranma headed for the door, "Okay. Let's head out and get us some supplies before we head out. While we're here, I'll say my thanks to Tsunade and then we can be on our way,"  
"Okay," Naruto said. He smirked, "Hey, can we go meet up with Sasuke?"  
"What for? Oh, lemme guess, you wanna show off how strong you've gotten since you've last been together?" Ranma smirked.  
Naruto couldn't hide his grin. Ranma was able to read him like a book.  
Ranma laughed.  
"All right, let's go say hi and then be on our way,"

Ranma and Naruto walked down the street together.  
"They fixed this village up quite nicely since the attack," Ranma commented, "Most of the buildings damaged in the invasion are well on their way to being repaired,"  
The two of them were heading toward the Main Hall to visit Tsunade first.  
"Hey, that looks like Sakura!" Naruto said. He pointed toward a young girl sleeping on a nearby stone bench.  
Ranma and Naruto quickly approached the girl.  
"It is her," Naruto said. Ranma regarded the girl sleeping on the bench. She was a pretty girl that had shoulder length pink hair and looked to be around the same age as Naruto.  
"You should wake her up," Ranma said, "She shouldn't be sleeping out here. She might catch a cold,"  
Naruto quickly gave her a nudge, "Sakura, hey, wake up," "Uh," the girl slowly stirred, opening her eyes. All of a sudden, she bolted upright, "Sasuke!"  
She looked at Naruto. For a moment, she seemed a bit confused. When she found herself regarding Naruto, her eyes widened.  
"Naruto," Sakura said, "What are you doing here?"  
"Huh? Naruto asked, "That's what I was about to ask you,"  
She glanced over toward Ranma and recognized him from about a week ago, when he had jumped in and saved Sasuke during his battle with Gaara.  
"Y-you're Ranma, aren't you?" Sakura said.  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "And you're Sakura, right? Naruto mentioned about you,"  
"We have to go get him back!" Sakura shouted toward Naruto.  
"What are you talking about? Get who back?" Naruto asked.  
"Sasuke!" Sakura said, "Sasuke defected from Hidden Leaf Village last night!" "He did? You're kidding me, right?" Naruto gasped, "Why would he go and do something like that?"  
Sakura said, "He wanted to become stronger. I think it's because he got hurt so badly and needed to be saved by Ranma during his battle with Gaara, Sasuke has been depressed all week over how weak he was. Last night, he defected,"  
"What?" Naruto shouted.  
Ranma said, "Whoa, what, does that mean Sasuke defecting is my fault?"  
Sakura sneered at Ranma. Even thought she didn't know him, she sure had no problems being angry at him, "Yes, it's all your fault!"  
Naruto turned toward Ranma, "We have to get to the bottom of this. If Sasuke defected, we hafta go find him and get him back,"  
"What about our going to Hidden Mist Village like we originally planned?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto asked, "Can't that wait? Sasuke is my friend. There must be a good reason why he defected. We should go find him and bring him back,"  
Ranma sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

new stuff 1/20

Naruto took a drink of water from a nearby water fountain. There were water fountains located all over Hidden Leaf Village. The water tasted refreshingly cool against his lips.  
As he drank, he watched as the water swirled around in the fountain where it collected up by the drain and disappeared. As he watched this, an idea started forming in his mind.  
Hey, if water collects like that, why shouldn't it be the same for chakra, Naruto thought. He held the button down and watched as the water continued to swirl in the fountain and collect around the drain before disappearing down the drain itself.  
"C'mon, we better hurry and go meet up with Tsunade and explain what's going on," Ranma called out to him, "What the heck are you doing?"  
Naruto's eyes widened as he turned toward Ranma.  
"I've got it!" Naruto shouted happily.  
"Got what?" Sakura asked.  
"I think I know how to shoot a ki-blast much quicker!" Naruto said.  
"What are you talking about? What's a ki-blast?" Sakura asked.  
Ranma approached Naruto, "What are you getting at?"  
Naruto pointed, "I was watching the water swirling around in the water fountain and this idea struck me on how to gather chakra faster than I have ever gathered before,"  
Ranma perked an eyebrow, "Oh?"  
"I can use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto smiled, "I can use my replicas to help speed the process of gathering chakra to do a ki-blast,'  
"What's a ki-blast?" Sakura asked again, a bit impatient, not liking being ignored.  
"It's a technique," Ranma told her, "It's a sphere of ki, or as you like to call it, chakra, that you shoot from your hands and has quite a bit of destructive power,"  
Sakura regarded Naruto for a moment. She had noticed something about Naruto, that he seemed to have gotten stronger since she had last seen him a little over a week ago, but from the sounds of what a ki-blast was, could he have gotten that strong?  
"Do you think it'll work?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma scratched his chin, "Hm, I don't see why not. In theory, it sounds like it could work. You already know how to manipulate ki and all. You simply don't have the experience in drawing in ki quickly enough. And what's amazing is that considering the training you underwent carrying me for so long, you can probably shoot out enough ki in a ki-blast to actually knock a person out,"  
Naruto grinned, "Oh man, I wanna try it out right now,"  
"Naruto! Don't you see we have more pressing matters like Sasuke having defected?" Sakura grabbed at Naruto's shirt. When she felt something solid underneath his shirt, she asked, "What are you wearing under your jacket? Is it some kinda body armor?"  
"It's a weighted vest," Naruto said, "I've been wearing one all week. It a part of my training. Ranma's been training me,"  
Sakura glanced at Ranma and then back at Naruto. She grabbed at the lapel to the vest and tried to lift it up, much to no avail. The weight of the vest seemed so extreme that she could even budge it.  
"Jeez, how much does the vest weigh?" she asked.  
"I have no idea," Naruto answered, "And Ranma wouldn't tell me. He said something about my not knowing its true weight will help me adapt to it faster,"  
"That I did," Ranma smirked.  
"Look, forget about that now, let's go tell Tsunade about what happened," Sakura said, "You know about Tsunade, right? She's the new Hokage,"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. I met her about a week ago,"  
"Where have you been this past week anyway?" Sakura asked.  
Naruto said, "Training. Ranma's been training me. I met up with her and her friend, Shizune, by accident,"  
Sakura started heading off, "You can tell me about it later. But first, we need to bring this to the Hokage's attention,"  
"Okay," Naruto said, watching as Sakura ran off without him.  
Naruto sighed.  
"Lettme guess, you like her," Ranma smirked. "How'd you guess?" Naruto asked, blushing.  
Ranma smiled, "Just a lucky guess. It seemed rather odd how you seem to let her talk to you like that without talking back to her like you usually do when I noticed you seem to have no problem talking back to Tsunade,"  
Naruto sighed.  
"Well, it doesn't really matter anyway. She likes Sasuke,"

Tsunade's office was located in the Main Hall. It was a very large office with one half leading to a balcony that overlooked a large portion of the village. There was a lone desk in the middle of the room with many stacks of papers piled up all over the desk and the floor surrounding it.  
Ranma could be seen as he played with the pig, Ton-Ton, off in the corner of the main office where Tsunade usually did her paperwork. Being Hokage wasn't all that fun with her. Ever since she had become Hokage, she had done nothing but paperwork. Then again, she knew that it was a part of the job.  
Ranma now wore a regular shirt, having found a clothing store on his way to the Main Hall and buying himself a new shirt.  
Tsunade had just been explained the situation at hand and of Sasuke's defection from the village.  
"So, Sasuke has defected?" Tsunade said.  
Sakura nodded, "Yes. I bumped into him last night as he was leaving. I tried to convince him to stay but it was useless. He...he knocked me out before I even realized what had happened and left," Tsunade could be seen in deep thought as if contemplating a plan of action.  
Could it be, Tsunade thought, Orochimaru already started to move? He must be after Sasuke's Sharingan power.  
"Do you have any idea where he could have gone?" Naruto asked, "Where do you think someone would defect to?"  
"I'm not too sure," Tsunade said, "But there could be a chance he's gone to the Hidden Sound Village?"  
"Hidden Sound Village? Whatever for?" Sakura asked in surprised, "What's could possibly be the reason for him to go there?"  
Tsunade said, "Because, Orochimaru lured him there,"  
"What?" Naruto and Sakura gasped.  
"Orochimaru? How can that be? Why?" Naruto asked.  
"Why would such a dangerous guy want Sasuke so badly?" Sakura asked.  
"Whatever the reason, we don't have much time," Tsunade said, "I have a good feeling that Orochimaru sent his four subordinates to retrieve Sasuke and that Sasuke defected to meet up with them,"  
Sakura and Naruto looked at one another. "Four subordinates, huh?" Ranma asked, "As in his lackies? Like that Kabuto guy?"  
"Kabuto? Kabuto from the Chuunin exam?" Sakura asked.  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, it turned out that guy's some kinda spy,"  
Sakura said nothing.  
"Ranma," Tsunade looked over toward the corner of the room where Ranma wasn't paying all that much attention, too busy petting the pig and seemingly chatting with it.  
"Hm?" Ranma looked up.  
"Ranma, are you going to stay around and help out?" Tsunade asked. Ranma said, "Yeah, I guess. I hope it doesn't take a long time. I really want to go home,"  
Tsunade smiled a bit. If Ranma was on the task at hand, then things would most likely turn out okay. If she thought about it, there was no one more capable than Ranma to handling a situation like this.  
"I'm going to assign you your first mission," Tsunade said, "Sakura, you can stay here. Since you weren't able to stop Sasuke from leaving, your task is done and there's nothing more you can do from here on. Ranma, take Naruto with you toward Hidden Sound Village. There might be a good chance you might be able to catch up to Sasuke given your traveling speed. Get the necessary supplies you need and be ready to leave in thirty minutes,"  
Ranma regarded Tsunade for a moment, feeling the need to tell her that he didn't particularly like being told what to do and would have preferred her to have simply asked him but chose not to say anything. He didn't want to embarrass Tsunade in front of Naruto or Sakura.  
"Where's this Hidden Sound Village?" Ranma asked.  
"It's North-East from here," Tsunade answered.  
"What, just Naruto and I are going to be doing this?" Ranma asked.  
"Yes," Tsunade nodded.  
Sakura looked surprised, "Hokage-sama, Ranma is going to be the leader of this mission? He's going to be leading the team?"  
"He's a capable person," Tsunade answered, "Don't question my requests,"  
"Yes, ma'am," Sakura said meekly.  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward the pig, "Can I take Ton-Ton with me?"  
"Ton-Ton? Why?" Tsunade asked, "Why do you want to take the pig with you?"  
"The pig's good at tracking," Ranma smiled.  
Tsunade cast the pig a glance and noticed it seemed to be sitting right next to Ranma's feet. It seemed like Ton-Ton had taken a liking to Ranma and Ranma had noticed the pig's unique ability to track people and objects.  
"All right, take Ton-Ton with you," Tsunade said, "But I expect you to bring back my pet alive and well,"  
"And if I don't?" Ranma smirked.  
"You don't want to find out," Tsunade gave Ranma a scowl that reminded him of how angry Akane sometimes got at him when he was young.  
Ranma gulped, "Um, I was just curious. That's all,"  
Tsunade waved a hand.  
"You may go now. I've got a lot of work I need to do. Ranma,"

Ranma and Naruto and Sakura could be seen walking down the street together. The pig was happily walking next to Ranma.  
Ranma cast a glance toward the southern entrance to the main stadium as it was currently in a state of repair as they were walking by. There, he noticed a small group of people standing by the tree as if they were waiting for someone.  
"What's with the group?" Ranma asked.  
"Not too sure," Naruto answered, "I see a small group of people waiting around there the first day of every month. I have no idea who or what they're waiting for,"  
Sakura said, "I was told it has to do with the Fourth Hokage. When he was alive, he could be found standing right there waiting for someone every first day of every month. Now that he's gone, people gather around there to keep that tradition,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Okay. Seems kinda strange though but oh well,"  
As the two of them walked together, Ranma nudged at Naruto.  
"Heh, Tsunade's seems rather bossy as of late, dontcha think?" Ranma smirked.  
Naruto chuckled, "More than usual,"  
"I can't believe you're talking about the Hokage like that," Sakura came to her defense, "You don't even know her,"  
"Actually, I do know her," Naruto answered proudly.  
He reached down the front of his jacket and pulled out a necklace, "This is her necklace. She gave it to me,"  
"She did? Whatever for?" Sakura asked, a bit awed at how beautiful the necklace was. Naruto said, "We made a wager. She said that if I could shoot a ki-blast, she would acknowledge that I can become Hokage one day. I won and she gave me her necklace,"  
Sakura said nothing, now very intrigued as to how strong Naruto had gotten.  
"And if that theory of mine works out, I'll be shooting ki-blasts much quicker than expected," Naruto grinned, "I'll be super powerful,"  
Ranma smirked at Naruto. He could tell that Naruto was trying to impress Sakura. Funnily enough, it didn't seem to impress her all that much. Instead, it made him seem rather arrogant.  
"All right, now that it seems like we will be going on a mission together, let's get ready," Ranma said, "Let's find ourselves an equipment shop and get you some more weights for your vest,"  
"Aw man," Naruto said, "Are you sure? We're in the middle of a mission now. It's not like we're gonna be training like before,"  
"I know," Ranma grinned, "It makes it all the more important that you adapt to the new weights or you'll end up getting left behind,"  
Naruto said, "Hey, just noticed something? I carried you all the way back to the village. Didn't you say your bracers are really heavy? How could I have carried you and those bracers of yours?"  
"They are heavy, only when they're laden with ki," Ranma said, "When I was unconscious, the ki that generally makes it heavy basically disappeared since I used it all up so it weighed like nothing. Think of my bracers as heavy items I wear, much like your weighted vest, but they're weighed down by ki,"  
"Oh," Naruto scratched his head. He had no real idea what that meant but took it as a given.  
"Ah, speak of the Devil," Ranma spotted an equipment store, "That's one of the things I like about this world, lots of stores related to battle and martial arts. Equipment stores are as comment here as convenience stores back home,"  
Naruto and Sakura followed Ranma into the shop. Inside, they spotted a familiar face. They spotted a friend of theirs near the corner of the store looking at a magazine rack. There was a depressed look on the young boy's face, as if he was trying to think of something to do to pass his time.  
"Lee!" Sakura called out. The boy looked over in their direction. His eyes widened in surprise when he recognized Sakura and Naruto.  
"Sakura! Naruto!" the boy said happily, "Wow, I can't believe I'm bumping into you guys here! What a surprise!"  
Ranma regarded the young boy. He had a bowl-cut haircut that reminded him of that man named Gai he encountered shortly after he had arrived on that world. The boy wore a green outfit and had a crutch under one of his arms "Oh, Ranma, this is Rock Lee," Naruto made the introductions, "Lee, this is Ranma,"  
The boy named Lee bowed politely to Ranma as Ranma did the same in return. Ranma liked the boy already. It was hard finding people that were initially respectful nowadays.  
"Did you hear what happened? Sasuke defected," Sakura said.  
"What?" Lee gasped.  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. Ranma and I are on our way to Hidden Sound Village. We have reason to believe he's been taken there and are on our way to get him back,"  
"Can I come?" Lee jumped at the chance, "I'd love to help!"  
Naruto didn't seem to show much tact, "How? You're injured and need a crutch to walk. How can you help us out like that?"  
Ranma bonked Naruto on the top of his head, "Jeez, you have less tact than me and that's saying a lot,"  
Lee looked down at the ground, sad by the fact that he was injured. "What happened to you?" Ranma asked curiously, "Why are you using a crutch?"  
"He had been injured fighting Gaara in a preliminary fight long before you showed up," Naruto said.  
Lee nodded sadly, "The fight left me with a broken left leg and a broken left arm. I was told I would've actually been killed had Gai-sensei not had intervened and stopped the match,"  
"Oh," Ranma said, "Can I take a look?"  
"What do you mean?" Lee asked.  
Ranma crouched down and started rubbing at Lee's leg. Lee chuckled because it tickled but tried to keep himself from doing so.  
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.  
"Your leg is fine," Ranma said, "The bone was one broken but it healed up quite nicely. But lemme guess, it hurts every time you take a step, right?"  
Lee nodded, "Yes. How'd you know?"  
"Your ankle's messed up," Ranma answered, "It healed up incorrectly and needs to be reset properly,"  
"Really?" Lee asked.  
"Want me to fix your leg up?" Ranma asked, "You'll be walking as good as new,"  
"Please, I'd really appreciate it," Lee said eagerly.  
The group watched as Ranma grabbed one hand around Lee's left ankle and twisted the boy's foot with his other hand. A loud snap could be heard echoing through the story. Sakura yelped in horror at the sound she had heard and her face could be seen turning green.  
Naruto simply cringed at the noise.  
"There, you should be better now," Ranma said.  
Lee could be seen putting most of weight on his left foot. To his surprise, it didn't hurt.  
"Wow, it doesn't hurt anymore," Lee gasped.  
"No duh," Ranma grinned, "Your arm's in a similar predicament as well. Want me to fix that up as well?"  
"Um, yes, please," Lee said gratefully.  
Ranma grabbed Lee's left arm and twisted it at a very awkward angle. Once again, a loud snapping noise could be heard. It sounded exactly like a bone snapping in half.  
Sakura, seemingly sick, rushed out of the store.  
"Don't worry, most people feel sick hearing those kinda noises," Ranma smirked, "It can't be helped,"  
Lee moved his left arm around in a circle, "Oh man, my arm doesn't hurt anymore when I move it around,"  
Ranma smiled, "Glad I could help,"  
Lee did a few katas in the middle of the store and had look of awe on his face as he felt perfectly fine.  
"This is incredible!" Lee gasped, "How can I ever thank you?" Ranma said, waving a hand.  
"Don't worry about it,"  
"What you did for Lee was really nice," Naruto said.  
"Thanks," Ranma smiled, "I try to do nice things from time to time,"  
"Man, this vest weighs so damn much!" Naruto shouted, "I can barely walk!"  
"Good," Ranma grinned, "That's what we want,"  
Naruto could be seen slowly following behind, highly unused to the his new vest. Ranma had bought him a smaller vest. This time, rather than add more weight, he simply used his own ki on it to make it very heavy. By now, Naruto was capable of carrying enough weight that the vest would be huge with added weights before it would be considered heavy to him. The size of the vest would be a burden had Ranma used traditional weights. "Don't you think you're overburdening him?" Lee asked, "I've used weights before but that looks too heavy for him,"  
Lee and Sakura were still with them, tagging along all the way to the North Gate where they would see them off.  
"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Ranma said confidently, "Besides, he won't be doing much anyway. All he needs to do is tag along. I'll do most of the work anyway,"  
"What do you intend to do?" Sakura asked anyway, finding Ranma not that bad a person. If Ranma was willing to help get Sasuke back, he couldn't be all that bad.  
"Use extreme force," Ranma grinned, "Whoever these four lackies of Orochimaru's are, I'm gonna just go in, hit them hard, and get Sasuke back before they knew what hit them. I wanna go home and the longer I take dealing with 'em and getting Sasuke back, the longer it'll be before I head back,"  
"What, you don't like being here?" Naruto seemed sad.  
"I didn't say that, I just prefer being home," Ranma stated.  
"Where do you live?" Lee asked, "Your village must be very powerful if they taught you such advanced techniques like that healing Jutsu you did for me,"  
Ranma smirked, "All I did was snap your joints back in their right place. There's no Jutsu in that. That's the kinda stuff a chiropractor does. I live on a different world,"  
Sakura and Lee looked confused, "Different world?"  
"I don't really understand myself," Naruto said to the two of them.  
"Well, here's where we get going," Ranma said as they arrived at the North Gate, "I guess this is goodbye. But don't worry, we'll be back soon,"  
Sakura looked near the brink of tears, "Naruto,"  
"Hm?" Naruto looked at Sakura.  
"Please, please, bring Sasuke back," Sakura said in a sad voice, "I couldn't do it. I couldn't stop him. The only person who can probably save Sasuke now is you, Naruto,"  
Ranma raised his hand to indicate that Naruto wasn't alone, that he himself would be with Naruto and would most likely be doing all the work anyway. Of course, Sakura didn't seem to notice him and he simply let it drop.  
Ranma caught sight as Naruto looked a bit sad for a moment before he steeled his emotions and smiled at Sakura.  
"Sakura, you really like Sasuke, huh?" Naruto asked, "I know how much pain you're in because of Sasuke. I can understand,"  
"Naruto, thank you," tears started to stream down her cheeks.  
Naruto smiled confidently, giving Sakura a thumbs-up sign, "Don't worry. I'll bring him back! Promise of a lifetime!"  
Ranma threw his hands up in the air, "Oh great! Naruto makes yet another promise!"  
"Heh, I won't take back my words," Naruto smirked, "That's my ninja way,"  
Ranma pinched the bridge of his nose.  
That was the same quote Naruto had said when he made that promise to Tsunade. Sure, he had kept his promise and shot a ki-blast, but Ranma had to hang around for an extra week training him just because of that.  
Naruto threw his hand up in the air.  
"All right, let's go!"

Ton-Ton sniffed at the air as Ranma held the pig in his arms and ran through the forest at a moderate pace, taking care to keep it slow so Naruto could keep up. Once again, Ranma was impressed at how quickly Naruto was adapting to his new vest.  
"So, Ton-Ton, where do you think they went?" Ranma asked the pig, "You think we're getting closer?"  
He and Naruto had been running along for the past half hour.  
The pig snorted.  
Ranma turned dashed off toward the left at a slight angle from his original path, "Naruto, Ton-Ton tells me it can smell the scent of blood nearby. Be ready for anything,"  
Naruto gulped, "Okay,"  
Together, the two of them continued through the woods where they cam to this small clearing that looked like a devastated battlefield. There were toppled trees and giant craters all over the ground and ninja stars and shurikens littering the area. Lying in the middle of that battle field were two unconscious individuals, their bodies having multiple daggers stuck in them.  
Ranma placed Ton-Ton down and quickly rushed over toward the two nearly dead individuals.  
"Oh man, are they dead?" Naruto asked, concern in his voice. He gasped as he pointed toward one of the unconscious and bloody individuals, "Oh my god! That's the referee! He was the guy that was the referee during that Chuunin tournament,"  
Ranma looked at the unconscious man and noticed that the man was indeed the referee. It didn't matter much to him if he was or wasn't though but Ranma found it surprising that Naruto noticed that first before he himself did.  
"I guess these guys aren't the guys we were looking for. Anyway, quickly, check that other guy's pulse," Ranma gestured, checking the pulse of the referee, "See if he's still alive. If he's not breathing, administer CPR,"  
"CPR?" Naruto asked.  
"Check for a pulse first!" Ranma said. His visage became somber when he felt no pulse.  
"No pulse!" Naruto said, very worried.  
"Same here!" Ranma said, "We've gotta administer CPR! Just do exactly as I do!"  
Naruto watched an emulated Ranma's actions as Ranma went about pressing his hands up against the man's chest and began doing chest compressions, pressing down on it fifteen times.  
Ranma then pinched the guy's nose and pressed his mouth against the unconscious man's mouth and breathed into his mouth, forcing air into the man's lungs twice. When he looked at Naruto and noticed Naruto had a rather weird look on his face.  
"Do it, now!" Ranma shouted at Naruto. Sure, the thought of pressing one's mouth against another man's mouth might seem a bit weird, but with something like this, one had to push that feeling aside.  
Naruto quickly did as Ranma had done a second ago, emulating it exactly. "Yuck!" Naruto muttered, wiping his mouth.  
He glanced over and saw Ranma doing chest compressions again.  
"What are we doing?" Naruto asked, emulating Ranma still.  
"CPR," Ranma said, "Neither of these guys have a pulse. We're trying to resuscitate,"  
"We need some kinda medically trained ninja in a case like this!" Naruto said, "This is probably doing nothing!"  
"Just keep doing it!" Ranma shouted back before breathing into the man's mouth twice again.  
Naruto breathed into the man's mouth again. As he was about to breath back in a second time around, the man coughed as his chest started rising and falling on its own.  
"He's alive!" Naruto gasped in shock, as if he had just seen a dead guy come back to life. He glanced over toward Ranma and noticed the man Ranma was administering CPR seemed to be breathing on his own again.  
"Wow, we brought them back to life!" Naruto gasped, "What kind of Jutsu was that? That was incredible!"  
Ranma sighed in relief as he sat down on the ground near Naruto, "That wasn't Jutsu. That was CPR. It's just a thing you do to basically get a guy breathing again if he has no pulse,"  
"Wow, did I save this guy's life?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma smirked, "Yeah, you did,"  
At that moment, two individuals emerged from nearby shrubbery. Both of them wore similar outfits as the two unconscious individuals which indicated they were on the same team or such.  
"What the?" one of them said when he noticed his fallen comrades.  
"Don't misunderstand, we didn't do this," Ranma said to the man, "We found 'em like this,"  
"Ranma? Naruto?" came a female voice.  
Ranma glanced pass the man and recognized the woman standing behind him, "Shizune? Hey, it is you,"  
"What happened?" she asked, quickly rushing forward to kneel down by her comrades. Upon quick inspection, she noticed they were badly hurt but would otherwise live.  
"We found 'em dead and brought them back to life!" Naruto smiled happily, "I never knew that something like that was possible!"  
"Um, yeah, that's what we did," Ranma chuckled, "They had no pulse and we resuscitated 'em,"  
Shizune nodded in acknowledgement, aware that Naruto didn't seem to understand resuscitation and believing it to be some kinda of advanced Jutsu.  
"Thanks, Naruto, you've been really helpful," Shizune stated, "I dunno what would've happened if you weren't around to help out,"  
"My guess is that she probably would've resuscitated 'em herself, but what the heck do I know," Ranma chuckled.  
"Ugh," one of the hurt individuals groaned.  
"I'm going to go after them," the man with Shizune stated, "They're going to pay for this,"  
"Wait, Iwashi," the hurt man said to his enraged teammate, "Their Jutsu are no longer the arts of shinobi. If you pursue them alone, you'll only come back dead,"  
Ranma asked the injured man, "The people that did this to you and your friend, how many were there? Four?"  
The man looked at Ranma in confusion, not really knowing who the man before him was.  
"It's okay," Shizune said, "He's a friend of ours,"  
"Yes, there were four of them," the man said weakly, "One of them was carrying this large container they seemed eager to defend,"  
"Hm, I wonder what's so important about that container," Ranma scratched his chin.  
Naruto said, "Hey, maybe they're transporting Sasuke in that,"  
"Could be," Ranma shrugged, "Who knows?"  
Shizune noticed the pig by Ranma, "Why's Ton-Ton with you?"  
"Sasuke defected from the village," Ranma answered, "Ton-Ton's here because it's a good tracker,"  
"Sasuke? Of the Uchiha clan?" Shizune asked, while never having met the boy but recognizing the name.  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, Tsunade wanted us to bring him back,"  
"Do you need my help?" Shizune asked, "We were on our way back to the village from a mission we just completed. I can help if you like. Iwashi here can bring back our two injured members to the village,"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. You guys look pretty tired from whatever mission you've been on. Naruto and I'll be fine,"  
"Are you sure?" Shizune asked, concerned.  
"Don't worry, I've got a good feeling we'll be fine," Ranma smiled, "We can take care of ourselves,"  
"Whoever you are, don't go," the injured man said, "Their power is unbelievable,"  
Ranma smiled, "Thanks for the warning. But we should be okay," He turned toward Naruto, "C'mon, let's get going. Perhaps we can catch up,"  
Shizune smiled softly toward the two as they and the pig left the scene.  
"Good luck,"

Ton-Ton snorted as Ranma held it in his arms.  
"What's that?" Ranma asked the pig for a moment.  
Ton-Ton snorted again.  
"We need to be careful of traps," Ranma said as he and Naruto ran along, "Ton-  
Ton tells me he smells traps nearby,"  
Naruto asked, "Tell me the pig didn't just tell you that,"  
"Yeah, the pig did," Ranma said, "Anyway, be on the lookout for traps. I think the group we're chasing now knows people are aware of them and are expecting people to be chasing after them. Be on alert,"  
"Okay," Naruto said. Ranma stopped all of a sudden. Naruto skidded to a halt, almost smashing into Ranma's back.  
"Whatcha stop for?" Naruto asked, surprised.  
"You tell me," Ranma smiled.  
Naruto looked around, wondering if there were traps around. After a few moments, he spotted a wire about ankle height running along the ground right across his path.  
"A trip wire," Naruto said, surprised Ranma had noticed it.  
Naruto gingerly went about stepping over the wire.  
"Are you sure you wanna do that?" Ranma asked.  
"Huh?" Naruto looked at Ranma while in mid-step.  
Ranma pointed.  
Naruto looked and noticed that there was a second wire right by the first one. Ranma kneeled down by the wire, "Naruto, I want you to analyze this. Think of this as a training session,"  
"What? But we're in the middle of a mission!" Naruto said, "We don't have time for all this!"  
"Trust me," Ranma said, "This is a good real-world situation for you to learn. If you think of this as a training session, you'll learn much more from this mission than you would many regular training sessions,"  
Naruto sighed, "Fine, what do you want me to do?"  
"Use deduction," Ranma said, "Figure out why there are two wires?"  
"It's a redundant trap," Naruto said flatly, "The first wire is just a decoy and can be easily seen so that someone will actively step over it to avoid it and end up stepping right onto the second wire which would most likely activate the trap,"  
Ranma nodded, "Good. And what else?"  
"There's more?" Naruto asked, "Like what else could there be? It's just a trap,"  
Ranma tapped his head, "Naruto, if you wanna become a powerful fighter, you can't just have brute strength or raw power. If you have a sharp mind, it'll make you all the more powerful,"  
Naruto didn't bother to argue. He regarded the two lines again, deep in thought.  
"C'mon," Ranma said in a soft voice, "Just think,"  
Naruto snapped his fingers, "They must be resting! If they're in a hurry to get away from whoever might be chasing them, then they wouldn't have the time to put up such a trap like that, not unless they hafta,"  
"Right," Ranma smiled, "See, that wasn't so hard,"  
Ranma carried Ton-Ton as he stepped over the two wires, Naruto following suit. "Let's keep going. I'll teach you more along the way if we come across more traps and clues as to what's going on with the group we're chasing," Ranma said.  
"Why are you doing all this now?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma smiled warmly.  
"Like I said, this is a great opportunity for you to build yourself up not only physically, but mentally as well,"

new stuff 12/22

"Four people," Ranma whispered toward Naruto, "It seems like Tsunade's right. There are four of 'em. They must be Orochimaru's subordinates,"  
Ranma and Naruto and Ton-Ton were hiding in a nearby bush a short distance away. They noticed four individuals sitting near a large cylindrical-shaped container that looked to be big enough to carry someone within it.  
They saw for individuals. There was a very large man with a Mohawk, a young-  
looking girl, a man with six arms, and a guy that seemed to be have feminine features that made him seem a bit like a cross-dresser. The cross-dress looked rather creepy because there looked to be a second head sprouting out from the back of that man's head. The guy wasn't necessarily a cross-dresser such that he was wearing a dress or such, but merely wore make-up which gave him the appearance of a woman. To Ranma, he considered the guy some kind of cross-  
dresser. The group were all clad in similar sleeveless shirt and dark pants. Their outfits had this large rope around their waist that reminded Ranma of the sashes sumo wrestlers wore.  
"Damn, what a weird looking group of people," Ranma muttered, "Why do I always bump into weird groups? Why do I always bump into groups that seem to have a Juggernaut and Magneto and Sabertooth and Lady Deathstrike and such? Why can't I bump into normal groups with a Joe, John, Chris, and Mary?"  
"What?" Naruto asked.  
"Forget it, I'm just ranting to myself," Ranma said before he looked at Ton-  
Ton, "What do you think, Ton-Ton? You think the man we're looking for, Sasuke, is in that container? Can you smell if there's an extra person inside?"  
Ton-Ton snorted softly.  
"Ton-Ton says it catches someone's scent in the container," Ranma said, "It might be Sasuke,"  
"What are we to do?" Naruto asked, "You're right, the four of them seem to be resting but on high alert. How do you think we can ambush them?"  
"Who says 'we'?" Ranma asked, "I'll do the work. You just watch over Ton-Ton so it doesn't get caught up in battle,"  
Naruto said, "I'm not so useless, Ranma-niisan. Just give me a chance. You're constantly underestimating me,"  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a moment and smiled, "All right, fine. You lead? I'll follow you. What's the plan?"  
"M-me? You want me to come up with something?" Naruto wasn't expecting to be given such responsibilities. So used to listening to Ranma and doing as he was told, Naruto was not used to the sudden role reversal.  
Ranma said, "Yeah. Try and think of a plan to come up with,"  
"Um, let's charge them," was the first thing that Naruto came up with, "Let's just run straight at them and hit them as hard as we could,"  
Ranma snickered, "Heh, you really think something like that would work? If they're smart enough to lay traps all over the place, you think something like that would catch them off-guard? You don't even know how strong they are,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma watched as the man with the six arms walked over toward the cross-  
dresser and whispered something into the man's ear before walking back and sitting down again.  
Shit, they're onto us, Ranma thought, noticing how suspicious the six-armed man looked as he tried to act casual. He quickly reached an arm out and grabbed a hold of Ton-Ton, intent on reacting to whatever might happen next.  
All of a sudden, the cross-dresser threw a dagger in Ranma's and Naruto's general direction, the dagger missing the both of them as it pierced right through the bush and became stuck in the tree right behind them.  
Ranma looked at the dagger and noticed three pieces of paper tied to it, slowly burning much like a fuse on a firecracker.  
"Gee, what the heck is that?" Ranma looked at the burning pieces of paper.  
"Explosive seals!" Naruto shouted in surprise, "It's going to explode!"  
"A what?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto leapt forward out of the bush as the seals on the dagger exploded in a terrific explosion, engulfing several nearby tress and bushes, wood and rocks flying everywhere like razor sharp shrapnel. Ranma, unaware of what those explosive seals were, was unable to jump out of the way. Instead, he turned his back toward the explosion, using his body as a shield to protect Ton-Ton as the pig squealed in surprise.  
Ranma was blown through the air where he crashed on the ground and tumbled along, eventually sliding to a halt right by where Naruto had landed after jumping out of the way.  
"Damn, that hurts!" Ranma muttered under his breath as he sat upright. He took a glance at Ton-Ton as he put the pig down on the ground, "At least you're okay. Hurry, hide yourself. I'll get you when the coast is clear,"  
Ton-Ton seemed to understand Ranma's words as it simply nodded and took of running, disappearing into the woods.  
"Eh? What's this?" the cross-dresser asked, his masculine voice clearly indicating that he was male even though he resembled a female, "Poked the bush and got two bugs instead of rabbits,"  
Ranma dusted himself as he got to his feet, "I'm impressed. How'd you find out where we were?"  
The six-armed man held up a hand, moving it slightly so that the sunlight shining through the treetops reflected off the strings tied to his fingers.  
"These strings are thinner than wires, but also stronger and harder to detect," the six-armed man said, "I've laid these all over the area,"  
Ranma smirked, "Not bad. So you purposely made those two wires visible. Triple traps, huh? Pretty smart," He nudged at Naruto as the boy came to stand next to him, "Go on, you do the talking,"  
"Me?" Naruto pointed toward himself.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "Don't worry, I'll back you up,"  
Naruto was silent for a moment before he gulped and steeled himself, trying to act confident despite their current predicament.  
"Okay, enough chit-chat. We've come to get Sasuke back!" Naruto said in a loud and commanding voice, "If you give us Sasuke back, we'll let you live. If you don't, you'll be in a world of hurt,"  
Ranma snickered, "Lay it on thick why dontcha?"  
The group burst out laughing at Naruto's ultimatum.  
"My my my, aren't we rather confident of our abilities," the six-armed man said.  
"Dude, let's just cut to the chase," Ranma said, "I wanna go home. Give me Sasuke and we'll be outta your hair,"  
"And exactly how do you intend to do jus that?" the cross-dresser stepped forward, "What, you intend to take him by force? Don't make us laugh,"  
"Quit runnin' your mouth, ya fairy," the young girl said, "Let's just beat the shit outta 'em and get going,"  
"Tayuya, girls shouldn't say that sort of..." the large man said.  
"Stinking fatass," the girl snorted at the large man.  
Ranma snickered, "Wow, that's some mouth you've got on your, girl,"  
"Fuck off," the girl said.  
Ranma ignored the comment, "Anyway, back to what Naruto here said. We want Sasuke back. We'll let that exploding dagger slide if you give him to us peacefully. If you don't want to get hurt, I suggest you give Sasuke up now,"  
The group looked at one another. After a moment, realizing that they were a group of four and Ranma and Naruto were only a group of two, they had numbers on their side.  
"That was an impressive display of power," the cross-dresser smirked, "You've piqued our interests. However, we still have no intention of giving Sasuke back to you. We suggest you leave right now before we get angry and kill you,"  
"Look, it's obvious we seem to have a problem here," Ranma said, "We want Sasuke back. You want Sasuke as well. That means only one of us will be taking him back if we fight. And if you really think you guys are getting him over us, I'm gonna hurt you. I don't have time for this bullshit,"  
The young girl stepped forward, "This asshole amuses me. You guys can go on ahead. I'll take care of them. I'll make him eat those words of his,"  
"No thanks," Ranma said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, "I don't fight girls,"  
"What?" the young girl sneered, "Are you mocking me?"  
"No," Ranma said, "I simply don't fight girls. They get hurt easier than guys,"  
"Why you!" the girl fumed.  
"I'll take care of her," Naruto smirked, cracking his knuckled, "I have no problems with hitting a girl, especially some old flat-chested hag like her,"  
The girl was neither old nor flat-chested. It was just to Naruto, who was only twelve, that she seemed old. The outfits she wore were loose so it hid her figure as well.  
"What?" the girl shouted, an aura of chakra surrounding her, "I'm neither old nor flat-chested! I'll fucking kill you!"  
Ranma turned toward Naruto, "You just HAD to say something like that, didntja? Why do y'hafta complicate this more than it needs to be?"  
He looked at the young girl for a moment, making eye contact with her for a moment, reading into her and just how powerful she was. She seemed extremely powerful, more powerful than Naruto, but Naruto had been known to surprise Ranma on many occasions. He might actually have a chance in defeating his opponent.  
"Naruto, you go take care of the girl, I'll go take care of the other three," Ranma said, cracking his knuckles, "Oh yeah, and for this battle, take off your vest,"  
"O-okay," Naruto said.  
Quickly, Naruto removed his jacket and threw his vest off, the vest falling to the ground in a loud thud that surprised the group of four before he quickly threw his jacket back on, not liking being shirtless.  
"You think something like removing a weighted vest will be enough to handle me?" the girl laughed mockingly at Naruto, "You'll be dead within seconds!"  
Ranma smirked toward his three opponent as Naruto regarded his own opponent, "C'mon, Naruto, let's rock!" "Clay Prison!" the large man shouted, seizing the initiative, kneeling down and pressing both his hands on the ground. Before Ranma or Naruto had a chance to really do anything or even realize something way happening, ground around them suddenly opened up and closed in around them much like a giant mouth, swallowing them both up whole.  
"Hey! What gives?" Naruto said, realizing he and Ranma were suddenly enclosed within a large dome of earth roughly twenty feet in diameter. "Heh, it looks like that fat dude simply attacked us first before we got a chance to attack them first, that's all," Ranma shrugged, "If that guy've waited just a second before attacking, I would've knocked him out first. I was about to charge him and deck him since he was the closest opponent to me,"  
Outside that earthly dome that encased Ranma and Naruto, the large man had both his hands on the side of said dome.  
The girl approached the man, "Why'd you go and do that, fatass? If you were going to attack, you should have left that little kid that insulted me alone so I could kill him,"  
"Sorry," the large man said, "I didn't want to take a chance in having his friend do something first before I did. I didn't like the look of that sphere of chakra he shot up in the air before and did not want to find him shooting one of those at the first opportunity he had,"  
"Hmph!" the girl said.  
"Don't worry, I'll take care of these two," the large man said, "I wanna recover even if it's only a little. I'm hungry and looking forward to the meal in store for me,"  
The six-armed man turned around and started walking toward the container, "Well, catch up with us as soon as you're done eating. We're gonna head out,"  
"Okay," the large man said.  
"Do he the favor and make sure that like punk dies a horrible death!" the young girl said coldly, "How dare you insult me like that!" The large man smirked, "Don't worry, I will. You can count on me,"  
The six-armed man could be seen wrapping the large rope around his waist around the container as he stood up, the container wrapped snuggly around his back.  
"Hurry it up," the cross-dresser said before he and the other two headed off.  
Inside the earthly dome, Ranma was pressing his hands against earthly dome, as if feeling around for some kind of crack in that earthly prison they were in. He was checking around for a way out and found out how within seconds. "Bah, what a joke," Ranma snickered.  
He glanced over toward Naruto where he saw the young boy viciously kicking at the wall in front of him and slashing at it with the dagger currently in his hands, as if trying to use brute strength to power his way out of their confines. The wall could be seen getting scratched where the scratches mysteriously closed themselves up within seconds.  
Ranma sighed. "Jeez, didn't I just teach you a short while ago that it's important to use your head?" Ranma asked, "Brute strength doesn't solve everything. It helps out a lot, but there's no real need to overexert yourself if you don't hafta,"  
Naruto found himself falling down to one knee, his breathing hard.  
This confused Ranma a bit, "You okay? Attacking a wall shouldn't tire you out like that, especially now since you have your vest off,"  
"I-I dunno why, but I feel myself getting weaker," Naruto said, "I think this chamber we're in is sucking out all our chakra,"  
Ranma paused for a moment as he held his hands out, "Oh, yeah, you're right. I didn't notice. It is sucking out our ki. You think you're going to be okay? Is this really draining you a lot?"  
Naruto nodded.  
"All right, then we better make this quick," Ranma said, wondering if now should be a good time to train Naruto some more, "Think of a way we can get out of here,"  
"H-how?" Naruto asked, very worried.  
"Just think," Ranma said.  
"I can't think!" Naruto pulled at his hair, "We're in trouble! This place is sucking out all our chakra and the walls are incredibly strong!"  
Ranma extended a hand forward and gave Naruto some of his ki. Instantly, the young boy felt invigorated, no longer feeling languid like he was before.  
"Um, thanks," Naruto said.  
Ranma smiled, "No problem. I've got plenty to spare. Anyway, try and think up a way out of here. This is a good opportunity for you to train yourself some more mentally, like back there with those string traps. Just try and think of a way to get out of here,"  
Naruto came up with an idea, "I know, you can shoot a ki-blast to blow your way out of here,"  
"C'mon," Ranma said, "I don't mean something like that. Think of something that requires a less show of force,"  
Naruto scratched his head, "Um, let's see. Hm, the walls are incredibly hard. Wait, we can dig our way out of here. If the walls are very hard, maybe the ground isn't,"  
Ranma smiled and watched as Naruto used his dagger to dig at the ground. To Naruto's surprise, the slash marks he was making on the ground mysterious closed up much like those on the walls.  
"It isn't working!" Naruto shouted.  
"So, I didn't say it would work," Ranma said, "But you get an A for effort. Try again,"  
"Like what?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma found himself getting angry, "Naruto, quit panicking! Clear your damn head and think more clearly! Panicking in a situation like this will get you nowhere. If you panic, it'll actually prevent you from making the necessary observations that can get you outta tough situations,"  
Naruto said nothing. He took several deep breaths, "Okay. Okay, I'll calm down and think more clearly now,"  
"All right, continue to brainstorm ways of getting outta here," Ranma said in a calm voice which seemed to help Naruto out greatly in remaining calm.  
Naruto scratched at his head, deep in thought, "Hm. The walls heal up just like the ground heals up. What could that mean?"  
"You tell me," Ranma smirked, glad that Naruto was on the right path.  
"It's healing because of chakra!" Naruto said happily.  
"Go on," Ranma said, showing no indication as to whether or not Naruto was on the right track.  
"Hm, if it's healing because of chakra then..." Naruto began scratching at his head.  
"Just take your time," Ranma said softly.  
"It needs some place for the chakra to come from!" Naruto said, "If that's the case, then our opponent must be standing right outside this dome providing the chakra,"  
"And?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto looked around, "There's got to be a weak spot. This dome is big so there might be a place where there isn't as much chakra being supplied to it because it's located farthest from our opponent,"  
"What does that mean?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto walked over toward the wall, "Hey, please, let us go! We beg of you! We promise not to chase after you guys anymore!"  
"My, how amusing how that arrogance of your seems to disappear now that you realize you're in the predicament you're in," came the man's voice from off to the side, "I guess that goes to show you that when humans are placed in situations where their lives are in danger, their true nature appears. And it seems like your true nature is to be a coward. It's too late now. You and your companion are my next meal. I'm not letting you out no matter how much you beg,"  
Naruto smirked toward Ranma.  
"Our opponent is just outside this wall," Naruto said, pressing a hand right by the wall a few steps where he was standing before.  
"And?" Ranma grinned, proud of Naruto.  
Naruto walked over toward the wall on the opposite side of the enclosed room.  
"If I try and break out of here through here, this is where my best chance would be," Naruto said.  
"I dunno, give it a try," Ranma said.  
Naruto grinned as he turned toward the wall and began slashing at it vigorously with his dagger, kicking at it as well.  
"It's working!" Naruto said, "The wall over here doesn't close up anywhere near as quickly as anywhere else. This section's receiving the least amount of chakra like expect. We can break our way out through here!"  
Ranma smiled warmly as he watched Naruto viciously slash at the wall, digging at it with his dagger like a pick, chipping off bits and pieces of earth all the while.  
After a minute, the both of them saw the outside world as a small opening could be seen. Naruto, seeing signs of freedom within reach, attacked at the wall with renewed enthusiasm. Before long, Naruto managed to dig an opening large enough to crawl through.  
"I did it!" Naruto shouted.  
"What are you waiting for? Let's get the heck outta here!" Ranma smirked.  
He followed behind Naruto as the young boy crawled out of the dome via the opening. Once outside, they both took a deep breath of fresh air. Even thought hey had been in there for no longer than a couple of minutes, it had felt like an eternity.  
Ranma smiled warmly, "Y'see? You don't always hafta use brute force with everything. Using your mind could be every bit as helpful,"  
Behind them, the earthly dome crumbled down to nothing as their opponent realized they had escaped. The man had an annoyed look on his face.  
Naruto flipped the large man a middle finger, "Ha! Is that the best you can do? You really think I was begging for mercy? What a fool!"  
Ranma snickered, "Jeez, Naruto, you sure like taunting, dontcha?"  
"So, you got out of my clay prison," the large man smirked, "I'm impressed. However, you're nothing more than annoying flies. You are both merely my prey, though you wouldn't even be a small snack for me,"  
The large man slapped his large hand on the ground, causing the ground to shake violently as he suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Both Ranma and Naruto instinctively crouched low to the ground to lower their center of gravity and keep from falling over.  
Their eyes widened as the ground in front of them started rising into the air to reveal the man holding it up, using his chakra to keep the piece whole, like that of a massive boulder roughly fifty feet in diameter. The man had used a special Jutsu to move underground so he could lift the boulder up from the ground from underground.  
"Oh my God!" Naruto gasped in shock, "Impossible!"  
The large man threw the giant boulder at Ranma and Naruto.  
"Waaaaaaaaahhhhh!" Naruto shouted as he tried to run for it.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ranma shouted as he jammed a finger into the boulder right before it landed on top of him. The boulder exploded outward in every direction, rocky shrapnel flying everywhere, some of them hitting Ranma and Naruto but not causing any serious harm to either of them.  
Ranma and Naruto found themselves coughing a few times, wave their hands in front of their faces to blow away all the dust that had been created from the explosion. When the dust cleared up, the area was littered with rocks and stones as Ranma and Naruto found themselves regarding the large man whom had a rather surprised look on his face.  
"Naruto, you think you can take care of him?" Ranma asked, "I wanna go on ahead and catch up to the other three and get Sasuke back,"  
Naruto looked a bit nervous, "You're going? I thought you were going to stay and help out,"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. I wanna go look for Ton-Ton and quickly go after the others. I don't want 'em to get too far away,"  
"But-" Naruto felt a bit worried about having to take on such a tough opponent. The man almost crushed the both of them with a giant boulder, and had Ranma not been in that Clay Prison with Naruto, Naruto would most likely had panicked and ended up dying in there.  
Ranma tapped his head, "Use your head against this guy. He's big and strong. You're small and fast, especially without your vest. Take advantage of it. Just remembered our sparring sessions and you'll do fine,"  
"Um, okay," Naruto said after a moment.  
Ranma started heading off into the forest.  
The man took a step to block Ranma's path, "Where do you think you're going? I'm not through with you yet-"  
Ranma slapped him in the face, sending the large flying away where he crashed into a tree and fell to the ground, a stunned look on his face. He didn't even see what hit him.  
"Go ahead and go 'Level 2' on me, I'll still slap you around," Ranma taunted, having already figured out all of the man's special abilities when they made brief eye contact, "You're not even powerful enough that I would even consider you a sparring partner,"  
He gave the man a nasty glare before he turned his attention away and ran off, calling out for Ton-Ton.  
The man looked shocked. How did Ranma know about his trump card, 'Level 2'? "Well, it looks like it's going to be you and me," Naruto smirked, feeling his confidence building up.  
Seeing Ranma call the man unworthy of being even a sparring partner really helped boost Naruto's confidence. Ranma had said on many occasions that Naruto was a good sparring partner. That must mean he is better than the large man standing before you.  
"I'm looking forward to killing you," the large man smirked, getting up from the ground and walking toward Naruto.  
"Use your mind," Ranma's voice echoed in his head. Yeah, but how, Naruto thought to himself. Ranma said the guy is slow but strong and that I'm small and fast. Does that mean I should use my speed advantage against him? No, that can't be it, if he gets his hands on me, I'm done for. I can't fight him straight up. I don't have the power. I can't get close to him.  
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly recalled an idea he had while getting a drink of water. He produced several shurikens from his pockets and threw them at the large man. Despite his large size, he still possessed enough agility to dodge the projectiles.  
"Is that all?" the man smirked.  
"No," Naruto said, "I did that because I'm not gonna need any weapons to defeat you,"  
The large man laughed, "Your arrogance is amusing. I'm going to look forward to seeing the look of humiliation on your face moments before I cave your face in,"  
Naruto smirked, "I'm going to show you a Jutsu I'm sure you've never seen before,"  
The man perked an eyebrow, curious but otherwise cautious.  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted.  
A massive cloud of smoke appeared around Naruto and the surrounding area around him. The man simply remained where he was, still cautious as to what Naruto was up to.  
When the cloud of smoke disappeared, there were forty Naruto standing around in a group, all of them smirking at their opponents.  
One minute, Naruto thought. I just need to keep the man distracted for one minute while each of my clones gathered as much chakra as possible. When the time is right, I'll have each and every one of them give me their gathered chakra.  
"The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" the man laughed, "You think I've never seen that,"  
The army of Naruto charged toward the large man. The man got into a battle stance, ready to defeat each and every attacking clone in hand-to-hand combat. However, he found doing nothing as the wave of Naruto suddenly split, circling around the man, eventually forming a circle around the large man.  
The man looked around at the forty Naruto surrounding him.  
"You really think all forty of you attacking me at the same time is going to work?" the large man laughed confidently, "You can send four hundred against me and I'll defeat each and every one of you,"  
Naruto said, "You know what's funny?"  
"What?" the man decided to humor Naruto, figuring he should let the young boy have some last words before he dies.  
"All my life, I've been constantly underestimated," Naruto said, "No one believed that I could become a competent ninja. However, because of that, it made me work harder than ever before, to prove everyone wrong, to show them that I'm not some kid that should be taken lightly. Today, you will be yet another person that underestimated me,"  
Naruto reached into the front of his jacket and pulled out the necklace around his neck.  
"You see this?" Naruto asked, "This is a necklace that's been given to me by the Fifth Hokage,"  
"So?" the man asked, "I care nothing for bauble,"  
"This necklace is a gift from the Fifth Hokage, as an acknowledgement from her that I do indeed have the potential of becoming Hokage one day," Naruto said, "I got this from her because I proved to her that I had the potential to become Hokage. She was just like everyone else, not believing in me or what I am capable of,"  
"So what?" the man said in annoyance, "Get to the point,"  
"You know what that means?" Naruto smirked, "You will have the honor of being defeated by a future Hokage,"  
The man laughed again.  
Each and every Naruto suddenly brought his right hands up and place it on the Naruto to his immediate right, connecting the circle so that each and every Naruto was in direct or indirect contact with one another in some way or another.  
The man took a defensive posture, wondering what Naruto intended to do, suddenly realizing why Naruto had been spouting such a silly story, to stall for time.  
He watched as every single Naruto extended their left hands forward toward him while still keeping their right hands on the Naruto to their immediate right.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" he heard all of them shout at once.  
Only one of those Naruto had shot out that ki-blast, and it had been the one directly behind the large man. All of them shouting out the technique at the same time was merely to distract the man and keep him from pinpointing by sound where the attack was coming from. Before the large man was able to do anything, a massive explosion hit him in the back, bolts of pain shooting through his entire body as he was blown bodily forward through the air, almost crashing into the dispersing Naruto standing in front of him, where he slammed into a tree with vicious force smashing right through it before crashing to the ground behind it.  
"All right!" each and every Naruto threw up their hands in triumph, "It worked!"  
As they all praised one another of a plan that worked out perfectly, the tree that had been toppled over before exploded upward as a loud anger-filled scream could be heard.  
All the Naruto yelped in surprise as they all turned their attention in the direction of the yell. They all found themselves looking at a figure that looked unlike their opponent.  
The man didn't really look like the person Naruto was expecting to see. Instead, he had dark skin the color of ash with a large main of white hair. There were spots and bumps all over his skin and regarded Naruto with pitch black eyes and white pupils. The man looked nothing like the opponent Naruto had been fighting a second ago except he wore the same clothes which gave it away. The man looked more like a demon than a man now.  
Oh man, this guy transformed into some kinda monster, Naruto thought, feeling a sense of dread. What is this form?  
"I can't believe I had to use 'Level 2' on such trash," the demon-man sneered. He proceeded to slowly walk toward Naruto.  
"This is the end," the demon-man said coldly, "No one can stand against the presence of my 'Level 2' which amplifies my original power by a factor of 10,"  
Naruto, and every other Naruto for that matter, took several steps back as the demon-man continued to approach him.  
"I'm impressed, it seems like I have underestimated you," the demon-man smirked, "For you to have made me go 'Level 2', that's quite a feat. However, now that I'm in this form, your life is ended,"  
Naruto's mind was racing a mile a minute as he tried to brainstorm what he could possibly do. That Mouko Takabisha he had hit his opponent with seemed to have hurt him but also angered him tremendously. That had been Naruto's most powerful ki-blast and the man was still standing. There was no way he could use another ki-blast again. He was positive that that demon-man was onto him and would not stand idle while he tried to gather ki once again.  
The demon-man charged the group of Naruto, intent on killing each and every one of them with his bare hands, punching them with such force that Naruto knew he would be killed if he was struck by just one punch.  
He watched in shock as the man attack the army of Naruto, punching and kicking, Naruto and Naruto clones disappearing rapidly in large puffs of smoke. The army of clones tried to fight back, but the man moved with surprising agility, dodging attacks from every directly and counter attacking.  
"Oh man, this isn't good!" Naruto said, knowing full well that all those Naruto would soon be defeated and he would be the only one left, "That ki-blast wasn't strong enough to defeat him. I didn't draw enough chakra. I need much more,"  
As he talked to himself, he suddenly found himself alone, all the clones defeated.  
"Well, it seems like you're the only one left," came a cold voice, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you would let your clones do all the dirty work. However, you no longer have any more clones,"  
Naruto regarded the demon-man as he sneered at him, taking two steps back for every one step his opponent stepped forward.  
He caught the a glimpse of his vest lying in the middle of devastated battlefield, not too far from where he was standing. Unfortunate, the vest was behind the demon-man as he continued to slowly walk toward Naruto.  
Naruto's eyes widened upon it.  
The vest! That's a new vest! Ranma says he can't add any more weight to my old vest because it would be too large on me! Ranma put his chakra in it to make it heavier than a traditional weighted vest! Maybe I can harness that chakra!  
"Saotome Ultimate Secret Technique!" Naruto shouted loudly.  
"Ultimate what-" the demon-man suddenly assumed a defensive stance. Afterall, the name of that technique sounded really powerful. When he noticed Naruto was running away from him in a full sprint, the demon-man realized he had just been duped.  
"I'll goddamn kill you!" the demon-man shouted, taking off in a sprint after Naruto.  
Naruto ran as fast as his short legs could take him, rather surprised at how fast his legs moved. He found the trees zooming right by him and an intense speed, he actually having problems keeping track of what was in front of him.  
As he ran, taking care to slowly make a wide turn so that he would eventually end up back where the vest was, he glanced over his back and caught sight of his opponent giving chase, smashing trees out of his way with single swipes of his arms, choosing to knock the tree out of the way rather than maneuver around them like Naruto did.  
"Oh man, he's catching up!" Naruto said in worry.  
He envisioned his legs running faster, and to his surprise, he found trees around him starting to blur as his speed suddenly started increase, as his body started to get used to no longer being burdened by a heavy weight.  
"He's slow!" Naruto felt relief. Then something dawned on him, "No, wait! He's not slow! I'm fast!"  
Naruto continued glanced back and could see the demon-man slowly trailing behind. This gave him a great sense of relief. When he turned forward, he shrieked in surprise as he saw a tree rushing straight toward him.  
Naruto though, oh no! I should've watched where I've been going! I'm running too fast to dodge it! I'm going to crash into it!  
The young boy's body suddenly moved under its own accord. All he did was think of how much he wished he could dodge that tree, and to his surprise, his body moved subconscious, dodging the tree effortlessly before continuing to on running forward.  
"W-what's going on here?" Naruto felt terrified, like something was controlling his body, "I-is this a result of all my training?"  
He saw a large tree trunk sail right by his left shoulder, missing him by inches. He quickly looked backward, wondering what had caused that and found himself looking at the demon-man as his opponent could be seen grabbing trees while still running and uprooting them and launching them at him like massive projectiles.  
"Aaaaahhhh!" Naruto shouted as he saw a tree trunk come sailing straight toward him from behind. Once again, he was surprised as his body moved under its own accord. Moments before he was to be crushed by the tree trunk, his feet suddenly dug itself deeply into the ground for purchase as he suddenly dashed off at another direction.  
Glancing back, he found his opponent rapidly trailing behind as the sudden change of direction had slowed him down incredibly. "Hahahahaha!" Naruto started laughing, loving his newly improved body, "Slow poke!"  
Realizing that he shouldn't let that go to his head, he continued to run, changing directions again so that he was now running straight back in the direction of the vest. After a good minute of sprinting, he found himself coming to a sliding halt right by the vest.  
Realizing that the demon-man was not far behind, Naruto quickly knelt down and pressed his hand on the vest. "Damn! How do I draw in chakra from the vest?" Naruto realized.  
He didn't have much time to brainstorm on what to do as the demon-man emerged from the forest and out into the clearing, charging straight toward him like a freight train.  
With no time to think and barely enough to react, Naruto extended a hand straight toward his charging opponent while he had one hand remained on the vest.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto closed his eyes.  
A massive ki-blast erupted from Naruto's extended hand, so large that his opponent, who saw it coming straight toward him, was unable to dodge it even though he tried to jump over it. The ki-blast struck the demon-man right in the chest, exploding on impact with massive force.  
The explosion expanded and engulfed both the demon-man and Naruto, Naruto being way too close in proximity of the blast. Both of them were blown in opposite direction of one another.  
The demon-man was sent flying through the air bodily where he smashed into a tree, crashing through it and continuing to travel onward where he smashed into yet another tree, crashing through that as well, continuing on crashing through more than a dozen trees before his flight was halted, ending with the demon-man bouncing off a large tree and down to the ground unconscious.  
Naruto, because of the angle of the ki-blast that had exploded in front of him, ended up getting blown downward right into the ground, bouncing off it and upward through the treetops where he arched through the sky and down to the ground, his descent slowed down as he overhanging branches broke underneath him.  
When Naruto landed down on the ground, the wind was knocked out of him and his entire body ached with pain. He body felt battered and broken, like every bone in his body had been shattered from the impact.  
Naruto found himself on his back, looking up toward the treetops. He could see the hole in the treetops where he had crashed through and the broken branches that slowed down his descent to a speed that was seriously injuring but not fatal.  
"Ugh," Naruto said, his eyes feeling heavy.  
He couldn't move. He didn't want to move, scared of the world of pain he would feel if he tried.  
Naruto just remained where he was, waiting for Ranma.

Ranma hopped from tree branch to tree branch, Ton-Ton tucked snugly under his arm.  
"Really, Ton-Ton, just how the hell didja find truffles?" Ranma chuckled, "I wanted you to hide so you wouldn't get caught up in battle, and you go hide for a minute and then smell truffles and come out of hiding to eat it,"  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times.  
"All right, fine, I understand, truffles are your favorite food, but still," Ranma seemed to reply, "I don't wantcha getting caught up in battle and all since there was a chance things might turn ugly really fast,"  
Ton-Ton snorted once.  
"Are you sure?" Ranma asked, "They're right ahead of us?"  
Ton-Ton nodded.  
Ranma quickly hopped off the tree branch he was on and down to the ground where he placed Ton-Ton down, "All right, I'm gonna drop you off here. Just make yourself scarce. And if you find some more truffle, just wait. I'll collect you some after I'm done, okay?"  
The pig seemed to accept Ranma's proposal. It then quickly ran off, disappearing into a large bush.  
Ranma chuckled, "Man, what are the chances? I end up with pig that's great at tracking but his this a addiction to truffles?"  
He then quickly jumped up into the air and landed on a tree branch, quickly running off in the direction he had been originally headed.  
Before long, Ranma caught up to the cross-dresser, six-armed man, and young girl in no time. He noticed that neither of them had noticed he was tailing them.  
Smirking, Ranma quickly used an extra burst of power behind his jump, propelling himself forward where he shot right past the group, landing on a branch right in front of them.  
The group all came to a sudden halt, surprised at how quickly Ranma had somehow escaped that Clay Prison he was in when the left and had caught up to them.  
"C'mon, just make it easy on yourselves," Ranma said, gesturing toward the container the six-armed man was carrying, "Just give me container that has Sasuke in it and let me be on our way,"  
"I'll take care of this," the six-armed man said to his comrades as he placed the container down on the branch he was on. He looked at Ranma, "You're going to have to take Sasuke from us by force. I have no idea how you managed to get away from our friend back there, but that doesn't mean I'll be getting away from me as easily,"  
Ranma sighed, "C'mon, does it hafta be like this? I really don't wanna fight if I don't hafta,"  
"Then walk away," the man said, "We don't particularly care to fight you, but don't think we won't hesitate to kill you if you intervene,"  
"I can't walk away from this, not unless you let me take Sasuke with me when I leave," Ranma said.  
The six-armed man smirked, "Well, it looks like we're going to have a problem, aren't we, since we have no intentions of giving him back to you?"  
Ranma sighed, "So, I guess that means we're going to be fighting, huh?"  
"Seems so," the man smirked.  
Ranma looked at the young girl and cross-dresser, "What do you guys think? Are you up to fighting against me? All three of you have no intention of giving Sasuke back to me?"  
The cross-dresser and young girl looked at each other.  
"Are you mocking us, asshole?" the girl sneered, "Of course we have no intention of giving him to you,"  
"No," Ranma said in a calm voice, "I just wanted to make sure, that's all,"  
"So, now that you know, what do you intend to do about it?" the six-armed man asked.  
Ranma smiled, "This,"  
In a blink of eye, Ranma lunged forward from the branch he was standing on and onto the branch the six-armed man was on, punching him in the face hard enough to knock him unconscious. The man didn't even have a chance to be blown bodily backwards for Ranma reached out and seized the guy's leg in mid-flight.  
Ranma pulled the six-armed man right back toward him and swung him over his head, throwing him into the cross-dresser. The two of them crashed into one another, falling off the branch and falling down to the ground down below.  
Ignoring the shocked young girl, Ranma leapt off the branch and landed on the ground by the other two. The cross-dresser had managed to get his fallen comrade off of himself and stood up to attack Ranma.  
"Eat this!" the cross-dresser sneered, "Mach Punch!" The cross-dresser punched at Ranma several hundred time over the span of a second. All Ranma did was bring his arms up to shield his face as countless punches rained down on him.  
When the cross-dresser stopped punching, Ranma brought his arms down and smirked at the man. Although he had been hit countless times in the body but not in the face, Ranma seemed unhurt.  
"You think that's fast punching? Lemme show you," Ranma grinned, "Kashuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"  
Ranma punched the cross-dresser a good thousand times within the span of a fraction of a second. When he stopped, the cross-dresser fell to the ground on top of this comrade, unconscious. Satisfied that two of his three opponents were out of action, he turned his attention upward toward the girl that still had a surprised look on her face at how easily.  
"Y-you fuck!" she sneered, finally getting over her initial shock of seeing Ranma single handedly take out two of her comrades within a span of three seconds, something she had figured impossible.  
Ranma shot a ki-blast straight up, the projectile sailing upward right past her in front of her, so close to her that she felt the heat from the blast. Her gaze instinctively followed the projectile upward where it incinerated all the overhanging branches as it broke through the treetops above and disappeared beyond the heavens.  
The aura of power held the ki-blast gave off was nothing she had felt before. It was an aura of such power that it basically terrified her, as if she had just escaped absolute death by inches.  
"Don't worry, I missed on purpose," Ranma smirked as he leapt up and landing right by the young girl. They made eye contact for a brief moment, Ranma doing so because he needed to know what had happened to Sasuke and why he was in the container to begin with. The eye contact only lasted for a few seconds before Ranma realized that the young girl's shock would wear off and she would try and attack him.  
Ranma quickly reached out and pressed several pressure points by the girl's chest area. While it did seem like he was groping her, the girl didn't have a chance to call him a pervert and slap him. The young girl only managed to give off a soft shriek of surprise before she slumped forward dead asleep, her sleep pressure points pressed. As she did, Ranma accidentally grabbed one of her breasts, forgetting that he was on top of a tree branch and unable to step backward to brace her forward fall like he usually did with most people.  
"Hm, it seems like Naruto's wrong," Ranma smirked.  
He hopped down off the branch and down to the ground and gently placed her down on the ground right by her fallen comrades. He didn't want to leave her up in the tree because he didn't want her to accidentally fall off.  
Looking down at the three unconscious individuals, Ranma smirked.  
"Told ya it would've been better if you guys just gave me Sasuke and walked away,"

"Holy crap, you look all messed up," Naruto smiled gave a slight smile to Ranma's comment but gave him a thumb-up sign. Ranma had the container resting comfortably on one arm, the weighted vest in the other hand. Ton-Ton was by his side.  
"I passed your opponent back there," Ranma jerked a thumb over his back, "From the looks of all that damage, you must've shot him with pretty large ki-blast back there and accidentally got caught in the blast yourself. And from the looks of how light this vest it, it seems like you used a rather innovated tactic, drawing out all the ki from this vest and using it on your opponent,"  
"Yeah, that's what I did," Naruto tried to sit upright but his body wouldn't move, "Getting caught even partially in a ki-blast really really hurts,"  
Ranma chuckled, "Oh, don't worry, I know. I've been hit with plenty of ki-  
blasts over the years to know exactly where you're coming from.  
Ton-Ton snorted.  
"Oh, don't worry, Naruto'll be fine," Ranma answered the pig, "He's a bit banged up, but he'll live,"  
He turned back toward Naruto, kneeling down by him.  
"I'm glad you defeated your opponent," Ranma smiled warmly, holding a hand for Naruto to take, "I knew you had it in you,"  
Naruto groaned as he took Ranma's hand and forced himself back to his feet. "My whole body aches," Naruto complained.  
"Want me to carry you?" Ranma asked.  
"No, I think I can handle it," Naruto showed great resilience. He extended his hands forward and took the vest, throwing it back on himself. He ached so much he simply threw the vest on without bothering to take off his jacket. He looked rather surprised at how light the vest weighed. It weighed probably no more than his own jacket.  
Ranma smiled, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna make the vest heavy like before. That's just crazy,"  
"You knew I was gonna win, didntcha?" Naruto asked, "Is that why you made me take my vest off, because you knew that I would eventually figure out that the chakra in that vest could be used as my trump card?"  
Ranma simply smiled but didn't answer.  
"I'll take that as a yes," Naruto gestured toward the container, "I see you got Sasuke back. Were those three opponents of your really powerful?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. I didn't even give them the chance to do anything. After that dude caught us in that Clay Prison he calls it with an initial attack, I didn't want to get caught again in whatever they might do initially so I attacked them first,"  
Naruto gave a weak smile. "I'm glad you beat them,"

Ranma entered Tsunade's office.  
"What are you doing back here?" Tsunade asked, looking up from her desk, "And please, knock before you enter,"  
"Why? I might see you naked?" Ranma smirked, "From where I stand, I won't mind,"  
Tsunade didn't seemed amused. She simply cleared her throat and asked, "Why are you back here? Shouldn't you be out looking for Sasuke to bring him back?"  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward the door, "Already accomplished. Sasuke's inside. Naruto's not here because I dropped him off at the clinic to have some of his wounds addressed and bandaged up and hafta go get him afterwards," "I can't believe you're already done with your mission!" Tsunade gasped, "You haven't been gone for more than an hour!"  
Ranma grinned, "Naruto and I're really efficient,"  
"I can see that," Tsunade said, getting up out of her seat and heading for the door. Outside in the hallway, she saw a large cylindrical container right in front of her door. Ton-Ton was right by the cylinder, happily eating at a small pile of truffles.  
"Are those truffles?" Tsunade had to asked.  
"Ton-Ton wanted some so I got it some on the way back," Ranma said, "I figured I'd let Ton-Ton eat out here because y'might not want it eating in your office and making a mess,"  
"Oh," Tsunade said, "What's with the container? Where's Sasuke?"  
"He's inside the container," Ranma said, "You're right, it was those four subordinates of Orochimaru that took him. They gave Sasuke these weird pills called they called Seishingan to forcibly increase this cursed seal Sasuke has to level 2, whatever the heck that means. It seems like increasing one's cursed seal to Level 2 can be fatal to some people and that container is some kinda containment unit to make sure that that doesn't happen to Sasuke," Ranma smirked, "I guess Sasuke's some special kid for Orochimaru to have this kinda interest in him. Anyway, Sasuke is in a coma within that container, to prevent the effects from being fatal it seems,"  
"How'd you get this information?" Tsunade asked, "Did you interrogate them? Orochimaru and his subordinates are not people that can be easily interrogated,"  
Ranma shook his head, "Nah, I just read one of the team members' mind. It works a thousand times better than interrogation. Anyway, I have no real idea what to do or if I should take Sasuke outta the container so I left him alone. I figure maybe you and, like, some village elders can do something about it,"  
"Thanks for doing what you did," Tsunade regarded the large canister, noticing small paper containment seals all over there object, "I'll be sure to check into it,"  
"How did Naruto do on this mission? Was he helpful?" Tsunade really wanted to know.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, he even defeated one of the subordinates all on his own while I took care of the other three. He's a bit hurt from the fight but he'll live. I purposely let him fight a strong opponent because I wanted him to start learning to think for himself since I'm not gonna be around all the time watching over him and all,"  
"What, where do you plan on going?" Tsunade asked, "I thought you've taken a liking to Naruto and are training him,"  
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna hang around forever," Ranma said, "I wanna go back home. This mission here was just a side quest to my goal, to find out how the hell to get back home,"  
"Ah, so what does that mean?" Tsunade asked, "You're heading for Hidden Mist Village to find that Information Guide? Naruto mentioned about it to me when he came to get me when you were unconscious,"  
Ranma said, "Yeah, that's the plan,"  
"I have some good news for you," Tsunade said, "I forgot to mention it to you before, but I figure it's best to tell you after your mission was completed," "Oh?" Ranma perked an eyebrow.  
"Naruto mentioned something about you wanting to go to some different world," she said, "Now, while I found it very odd a goal you have, I took it with a grain of salt and accepted it. I sent out a few Anbu to Hidden Mist Village to find this Information Guild a couple of days ago, to see if they can gather any information you might find useful. They got back here while you were gone," "Really?" Ranma said, pleasantly surprised, "Did they find anything useful?"  
"Yes," she said, "It seems like there exists a relic called the 'Tool of Banishment'. This item is actually used to get rid of people and monsters that can not be killed or sealed away. It's said to send them to some different world where they can not escape,"  
Ranma perked an eyebrow, "Really? That sounds like something that I could use,"  
"There exists a 'Committee' that oversees this relic's use," Tsunade said, "It is said that they know how to use this relic. It is described to look like a small mirror,"  
"A mirror?" Ranma's eyes widened, "As in a teardrop being needed to activate it?"  
Tsunade said, "I do not know,"  
"Damn, I thought it didn't exist," Ranma said to himself, "But it turns out that it does exist but the Third Hokage wasn't aware of its existence. From the looks of things, in every world, there exists a nanban mirror,"  
"A nanban mirror?" Tsunade asked.  
"It's a mirror that can be used to teleport people or things anywhere, if you know how to use it correctly," Ranma said, "I've used the mirror for quite a while and have gotten used to using it. If I get my hands on that mirror, I can use it to teleport home,"  
Tsunade quickly interrupted, "Are you nuts? If I knew you would do something like that, I would never have told you!"  
"What?" Ranma asked.  
"You intend to steal our world's 'Tool of Banishment' for your own personal use?" Tsunade shouted, "I'll never permit it! That tool is needed for us to get rid of those we can't kill or seal!"  
Ranma's lips became a thin line.  
He cast Tsunade a serious gaze, "Tsunade, I swear on my life I have no intention of doing something like that,"  
Tsunade regarded him for a moment. Ranma was rather incorrigible and obnoxious and such, but for some odd reason, she actually believed him to have a great sense of honor, that he could be trust.  
"Look, you need to understand that, while this 'Tool of Banishment' is very important to this world, it's also replaceable," Ranma said, "If this tool is exactly what I think it is, I actually have a few spare ones back home but in order for me to do so, I need to get home. I can use the mirror to go back home, and use the mirror I have back home to bring this world's mirror back,"  
Tsunade gasped, "What? That's not what I had in mind!"  
"You know what? Forget that, I can think of something easier," Ranma said, "One of the members of the 'Committee' I assume knows how to use it," Ranma said, "He can simply use it to take me to where I need to go and come back,"  
Tsunade was silent for a moment, "Well, that sounds possible,"  
"Who makes up this 'Committee'?" Ranma asked, "Where can I find this 'Tool of Banishment'?"  
Tsunade looked reluctant to tell him.  
Ranma said, "You do know I can read your mind if I wanted to and extract the information whether you like it or not, right?"  
Tsunade's eyes widened as she suddenly realized that.  
"Don't worry, I don't do that unless it's absolutely necessary," Ranma said, "I respect other people's privacy,"  
"What's that matter?" Tsunade said, "If you don't get the information you ask for that you need, won't you go ahead and read my mind?"  
"Well, yeah, but it's all about principle," Ranma said.  
Tsunade said, "Forget it. Look, since it seems like there's no turning back since you're now aware of this 'Tool of Banishment', I guess I might as well tell you even though I am very regretful of having mentioned it to you in the first place,"  
Ranma said in a soft voice, "Tsunade, you don't hafta worry. If I had any intent of malice toward this world, then why would I have taken Naruto under my wing? Why would I stay around to make sure you're alright fighting against Orochimaru?"  
"So, why would you have let Itachi and Kisame live if you knew they are dangerous people that have no problems killing people?" Tsunade asked.  
"Well, that's because I have no intent of malice toward anyone, even if they are people like Itachi and Kisame," Ranma said, "You should see that my actions speak louder than my words, that I only have good intentions,"  
Tsunade was silent for a moment.  
"North of here is a peninsula called 'Banishment Peninsula'," she began, "Obviously, you can understand why it's called that. At the northern-most tip, you'll find a temple, within that temple, you'll find what you're looking for,"  
Ranma reached forward and embraced Tsunade, "Thanks, Tsunade, I really owe you,"  
"Um, don't mention it," Tsunade blushed. For a brief moment, a feeling of warmth enveloped her. It felt nice to be in the arms of a man again. Had it been so long since the death of her lover that she had forgotten how nice it felt to be embraced by a man?  
"You can let go now," Tsunade said, a bit angry at herself for having enjoyed the embrace more than she cared to admit.  
"Sorry," Ranma said, "I kinda got caught up in the thrill of being happy. I've been on this world for over a week and I'm really itching to go back home,"  
She cleared her throat, "It's okay,"  
"Gee, I kinda wonder why the Third Hokage doesn't know about this," Ranma scratched his head, "I remember asking him if there was such thing as a mirror that exists on this world that can send someone to another world and he said no,"  
"Well, I'm aware of the 'Tool of Banishment' but it had never occurred to me that it's possible it sends you to another world until you brought that up," Tsunade said, "Also, I never knew what the 'Tool of Banishment' exactly was until I found out that it was some kind of small mirror when I got the info on it from the Anbu that went to Hidden Mist Village on your behalf basically,"  
"Oh, I guess that explains it," Ranma said.  
Tsunade regarded Ranma for a moment, as if now she was finally starting to see what kind of man Ranma was and what he was capable of.  
"So, you really intend to go back to your home, don't you?" she asked.  
Ranma nodded.  
"Well, I guess my a proposal for you will be no use," Tsunade said.  
"Like in marriage?" Ranma smirked, "I like you and all but it probably wouldn't work out,"  
"No! Not that!" Tsunade actually blushed, "What, you think I want to marry you? Jeez! Wait, why do you think it wouldn't work out? Wait, forget about it. No, not a proposal like that,"  
"Then what?" Ranma asked.  
She cleared her throat, "Well, I was about to ask if you wanted become a permanent resident of Hidden Leaf Village. I can see to it that you live a comfortable lifestyle. It's obvious that you're a very capable young man and having someone like you around will really help strengthen our village. But since it seems like you intend to go back home, it's fruitless to even suggest it,"  
"You're right," Ranma smiled warmly, "Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. This place is nice and I like it and know I can get used to living here. However, I have a home to get to. And let's just say that when I do go home, you'll most likely never see me again,"  
She smiled, "Well, let it be known that you're welcome here at this village,"  
"Thanks," Ranma said, "I'm glad to hear that. Oh yeah, before I go, I got a quick question,"  
"What is it?" she asked.  
She found herself following Ranma down the hallway a short distance and stopping in front of four pictures that lined the wall. The four pictures were framed and displayed a profile image of four guys.  
"What are these pictures?" Ranma asked, "This third picture I notice looks like the Third Hokage,"  
"They're the pictures of the four Hokages that have protected this village," Tsunade said.  
"So I guess that means your picture will be place on this wall as well?" he asked.  
She nodded.  
"I have a question about the Fourth Hokage," Ranma gestured, "Is it me or does the Fourth Hokage and Naruto look uncannily alike?"  
Tsunade said nothing.  
"Are they related somehow?" Ranma asked, "I'm simply curious. If it's some sensitive information that you don't want Naruto to know about, you have my word that I won't tell him,"  
"He's Naruto's father," Tsunade said.  
Ranma smirked, "I figured. Does Naruto know this?"  
"No," she said, "Most of the people who knows died fighting the Nine-Tails when it attacked the village. His father sucked out the soul of the Nine-Tails and sealed it within his own son,"  
"Hm, that makes sense," Ranma said, "It'd be weird if the Fourth Hokage sucked the soul out and sealed it within some random child,"  
For a short moment, Tsunade talked about who the Fourth was as Ranma listened intently. "Don't let Naruto know about who his father is," Tsunade said.  
"Why not?" he asked.  
"I'm positive Naruto had a very troubled childhood because he possessed the Nine-Tails demon sealed within him," Tsunade said, "How would you feel knowing that your father, a Hokage, something you aspire to become, caused you that painful childhood,"  
Ranma said, "Oh, I guess you have a point. Don't worry about it, I won't tell him. He's gonna hafta find out about his father through someone else. I was merely curious as to the correlations, that's all,"  
"Thanks," she said.  
"It is kinda strange that Naruto hasn't noticed this coincidence, that he and the Fourth Hokage look the same," Ranma said.  
Tsunade said, "He's been constantly told that it's just a coincidence and I guess he believes it,"  
"Thanks for answering my questions," Ranma smiled at the pig as he pet it a few times, "See y'round Ton-Ton,"  
Ranma waved back to Tsunade as he headed off, "Thanks for all your help, Tsunade, I really appreciate it. Anyway, take care,"  
Tsunade smiled as Ranma disappeared around the corner of the hallway.  
After he was gone, she walked back down the hallway to where the container was as it sat right in front of her office.  
"Now, what am I going to do with you, Sasuke?"  
Ranma was waiting in front of the clinic when Naruto emerged.  
Naruto looked perfectly fine. Only his dirty and slightly ripped clothes gave away any indication of what he had been recently been through.  
"You check out all fine?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. No broken bones or anything. A few bruised ribs and some sore muscles, but there's nothing much I can do about it. I'll be fine with time,"  
Ranma smiled, "I'm glad to hear that. I guess you're a lot tougher than you look,"  
Naruto asked, "So, how goes Sasuke? Is he going to be all right?"  
Ranma said, "Yeah. Tsunade and the village elders are gonna help him out. He's in good hands,"  
Naruto seemed relieved, "That's good to hear,"  
"You're a good friend to Sasuke," Ranma smiled, "It's even more amusing considering you care about him even though you consider him your rival as well,"  
"I don't care about him!" Naruto said defensively, "I just want him to be all right so I can fight against him one day and show him off!"  
Ranma laughed.  
"So, what's the plan now?" Naruto asked, "We heading back East toward Hidden Mist Village?"  
"No, we're gonna head North," Ranma said, "I'll explain on the way,"  
"Okay," Naruto said.  
Ranma looked down at Naruto, "You wearing your vest under your jacket?"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. What, you plan on adding chakra to it already?"  
"You want me to?" Ranma asked, "It's crossed my mind, but considering what you've went through, it might be pushing you a bit too much,"  
Naruto said, "How about we get something to eat first? When we leave this village, then you can make the vest heavy again,"  
"Okay," Ranma said, "Whatcha wanna eat? Where do you wanna go?"  
Naruto grinned, "Ramen!"  
"All right, that sounds like a good idea," Ranma said, "I'm kinda in the mood for some ramen,"  
"From here on, we're gonna be change our sparring sessions," Ranma said.  
"We are? Why?" Naruto asked, "I thought they were fine,"  
"I'll explain at the ramen shop," Ranma smiled.  
The two of them walked down the street together, heading in the direction of a certain ramen shop Naruto constantly frequented whenever he could, because it served the best ramen in all of Hidden Leaf Village.  
"Naruto?" came a voice as they neared the ramen shop.  
Ranma and Naruto turned their attention toward the voice and found themselves regarding a pink-haired girl.  
"Sakura," Naruto said, happy to see Sakura.  
"Why are you still here? I thought you two left already," Sakura approached them, "Lee and I saw the both of you leave through the North Gate,"  
Naruto grinned, "We did leave. We're back. We already accomplished our mission and got Sasuke back,"  
"Y-you did?" a look of surprise was evident on her face, "Where's Sasuke?"  
"I dropped him off with Tsunade," Ranma stated, "He's in good hands,"  
"I'm going to go check up on him!" Sakura quickly ran off, heading in the direction of the Main Hall.  
Naruto's lips became a thin line.  
"Jeez, that's messed up," Ranma muttered, a bit annoyed, "After all you went through,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
After a minute, Sakura could be seen rounding the corner. She ran up to Naruto and gave him a quick hug, something that surprised the heck out of Naruto.  
"Thanks, Naruto," she said, "You're the best,"  
She quickly ran off again, disappearing around the corner.  
Ranma smirked at Naruto.  
"Well, I guess that's better than nothing,"

"Your training's gonna be altered slightly," Ranma said, "From here on, you will no longer be getting any more ki from be to protect you," "What?" Naruto gasped, "But you hit hard enough to kill me with every attack! How do you expect me to handle sparring against you?"  
Ranma and Naruto were at the ramen shop.  
"You have developed a new form of gathering ki," Ranma said, "by having your clones do so for you. Therefore, if we train you to be nearly impossible to hit, the same would apply for your clones. Therefore, you can have your clones constantly gathering ki and supplying you with it to shoot ki-blasts, and if they can't get hit, they can continuously gather ki for you,"  
Naruto smiled, "Wow, that's a really good idea," Ranma grinned, "That's why I'm not gonna give you ki anymore to protect you. You're getting too used to it and we don't' want that. If every one of my hits will hurt like hell, I'm sure you'll learn really quickly to start dodging them,"  
Naruto gulped.  
"The best way to learn is the hard way," Ranma smirked, "And what better way to make you to never wanna get hit than to make the consequences of getting hit really painful,"  
Naruto gulped again.  
"Don't be all that worried," Ranma smiled, "I'll go easy on you. Sure, you're gonna be aching all over, a lot more than before, but it'll be for the better. Besides, you should be rather happy about the fact that you developed a new way of drawing in ki,"  
"Yeah, you're right," Naruto said, "I did come up with that on my own, didn't I?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Heck, you should call it your own technique or something because, in essence, it is a technique you pioneered,"  
Naruto smiled, "Yeah, I did come up with that technique, didn't I? That's right, since I came up with it, I should give it some kinda really cool name,"  
"So, what do you plan on calling it?" Ranma asked. "How about 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu Mouko Takabisha'?" Naruto said, throwing a hand up triumphantly.  
"How about you not?" Ranma smirked, "A six-word technique, that's a bit excessive, dontcha think?"  
"I guess you have a point," Naruto scratched his chin, "How about 'Kage Bunshin Mouko Takabisha'? That sounds cool,"  
Ranma said, "That sounds good,"  
"All right!" Naruto said happily, "I now have a technique I can call my own! That's so awesome!"  
Ranma chuckled, rubbing the top of Naruto's head, "You're so easily amused, aren't ya?"  
"Man, maybe I should develop a technique exclusive to myself," Naruto said, "I wanna be able to put my name on a technique. That way, long after I'm gone, I'll be immortalized by a technique that's exclusively mine. I wanna develop a technique like the 'Saotome Ultimate Secret Technique', so I can have my name on it,"  
Ranma chuckled, "That technique's not even a technique. It's simply called that because it sounds a lot cooler than a name that would actually be more fitting for that,"  
"What name would that be?" Naruto asked.  
"'Run Like Fuck'," Ranma chuckled.  
Naruto laughed.

"Ugh, so heavy," Naruto complained. The vest weighed more than ever before. He and Ranma had just passed the North Gate and Ranma had placed his ki on the vest like expected.  
"Do you know how close the nearest village is from here?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto shook his head, "No, but I do know that if you stay on this road, you'll eventually reach a village. I've never visited there before so I have no idea how far or close it is,"  
"Well, it doesn't really matter how far or close it is. All right, now that we're ready to get going, let's begin your training," Ranma said.  
"How?" the young boy asked.  
"We jog," Ranma said, "And we keep jogging for as long as you can,"  
Naruto smiled confidently, "I can do that. That's no problem. I can jog for hours without getting tired,"  
"Yeah, but we will jog until either you collapse from exhaustion, or arrive at the village," Ranma grinned, "If the village is several days away, we will continue jogging,"  
Naruto gulped.

Naruto stopped jogging when Ranma stopped jogging.  
The two of them were around five hours into their trek North when Ranma stopped in front of a large bridge that crossed a river that was around a hundred feet to the other side.  
"Why'd you stop?" Naruto asked. He didn't really complain since that gave him some time to catch his breath. While he was capable of running for an entire day without getting tired, doing so with a weighted vest on was a gruesome workout. Jogging with such a burden was intense, let alone running.  
Ranma looked at the river, scratching his chin, deep in conversation.  
"Hey, why'd we stop?" Naruto asked, wondering what was going on in Ranma's head, "Are we gonna rest here?"  
Ranma said, "Nah, I've just thought of an interesting form of training for you,"  
"What?" Naruto asked, both eager and worried about what Ranma had in store for him.  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward the river, "Cross this river without using the bridge with your vest on,"  
Naruto became worried, "Oh,"  
"I might as well give you a hint," Ranma said, "You don't have the necessary ki reserves to keep yourself floating,"  
Naruto smiled, "Of course I do. If I have the necessary chakra to shoot a ki-  
blast, then doing something like walking on water will be cake, even with a weighted vest on,"  
Ranma gestured toward the river, "All right, give it a try,"  
"Fine, I'll show you," Naruto grinned.  
He quickly ran down to the river bank by the river. Taking a few deep breaths, Naruto took his first step onto the river water. The foot floated easily above the water.  
"See?" Naruto said triumphantly.  
"That's just one foot," Ranma said, "I betcha not even a fraction of your weight is on that one foot. Try and put your second foot on the water and remain floating,"  
Naruto tried to do as he was told. The moment he tried to put his second foot on the river water, he fell down into the river, becoming submerged up to his knees.  
"Heh," Ranma smirked, "Told ya. The vest contains a lot of ki. For you to counteract the difference in weight, you need to have at least enough ki as what's currently in that vest, and there's enough ki in that vest to make a Seppukku Mouko Takabisha,"  
Naruto said, "How the hell do you expect me to be able to draw in enough chakra overcome that?"  
Ranma smiled, the side of his head, "Use your mind to figure it out. I'm gonna head on ahead and get us some food. I'll be back shortly,"  
"But you don't know how far ahead the village is?" Naruto said, "I mean, you know that this road will lead to a village, but you have no idea how far it is to that village or how long it would take to get there,"  
"It doesn't matter," Ranma said, "It's not like you'll be getting past this little task I've given you within the next hour or so. I highly doubt the village is so far away that it would take me longer than an hour to get there and back. Keep in mind I'm really fast,"  
"So you're just gonna leave me here?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "It's nearing evening and dinner time is coming around. I'm gonna go get us something to eat,"  
Naruto said, "Okay,"  
"I doubt we hafta worry about Itachi and Kisame since they have no idea where we are or where we went," Ranma said, "But don't go doing anything that might draw attention to us, like shooting ki-blasts in the sky,"  
"Okay," Naruto said.  
"I know you're probably itching to try out shooting ki-blasts now that you came up with a way of quickly drawing in ki, but it's important that you not go drawing attention to yourself, especially when Itachi knows that ki-blasts are my specialty thinks that finding me will lead him to you," Naruto nodded.  
"I understand,"

Ranma arrived back at the bridge around forty minutes after he left, carrying in his arms several bento boxes. When he arrived, he smiled when he saw Naruto working hard at trying to cross the river.  
However, he couldn't help but a bit surprised at what he saw.  
There were around a hundred Naruto clones fighting one another, like a giant battle royal, every Naruto for himself. Puffs of smoke could be seen appearing all within the sea of Naruto as individual ones are being struck and disappearing.  
This confused Ranma because he had figured he would arrive back at the bridge and find Naruto with several dozen clones drawing in ki and using it to help the real Naruto produce the necessary ki to cross the river.  
"What the hell are you doing?" Ranma asked.  
"We're beating ourselves up," all the Naruto said in unison, continuing to attack one another. Ranma watched as they all continued to attack one another. Figuring he should not try and interrupt since he had no real idea what Naruto was planning, Ranma hung back and watched.  
After around ten minutes of intense fighting, there only remained one Naruto. He looked like he was exhausted, gasping for air, trying to catch his breath.  
"Man, you look like crap," Ranma said, approaching Naruto, "What was that for?"  
"I'm trying to cross the river like you asked," Naruto said weakly.  
Ranma scratched his head, "But what's that gotta do with all of you attacking one another? All you're doing is tiring yourself out. Creating clones must take a lot outta you,"  
"That's what I'm trying to do," Naruto smirked.  
Ranma looked at Naruto in confusion and watched as the young boy bit one of his thumbs, drawing blood, and then began performed several seals with his hands.  
"Summoning no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he slapped the ground in front of him with the hand he bit.  
Remembering Naruto trying to do something like that before, Ranma caught sight of some markings expand outward from Naruto's hand on the ground in front of him.  
A big puff of smoke appeared under his hands. When Naruto pulled his hand back, it revealed a large green frog, a frog only slightly larger than that cute green frog Naruto had summoned by accident not too long ago when he tried it before.  
The frog was rather large, like that of a bullfrog, and it possessed markings on its face. It could be seen looking up at Naruto as Naruto stared at it in surprise.  
"What the?" the frog spoke, "It's only a kid. Gimme snacks if you wanna ask a favor. Otherwise, I won't help you out."  
"Wow, a talking frog!" Ranma said, surprised, "I don't think I've ever seen something like that before,"  
"Who the hell are you?" Naruto shouted at the frog, "Why the hell would I ask you for a favor, wart-face?"  
"Hey, you're the one that summoned me!" the frog argued back, "Don't you dare take this amphibian for a fool! Now I'm definitely not going to help you out, even if you do give me food!"  
"Like I want your help!" Naruto taunted.  
"What the heck is going on here?" Ranma asked.  
The frog looked at Ranma, "Who the heck are you?"  
"Ranma," Ranma found himself surprised he was talking back to the frog, "What's your name?"  
"Gamakichi," the frog said.  
"Nice to meetcha," Ranma said.  
"I don't need this," Naruto muttered, walking away from the two of them, "It's obvious I need to use up more of my chakra if I intend to succeed with my Summoning no Jutsu,"  
The two of them watched as Naruto did a hand seal and shouted.  
"Full Power Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" the young boy shouted as a cloud of smoke formed around him.  
When the smoke cleared, it revealed a good hundred Naruto clones, all standing around one another. "Wow, that's some kid," the frog said.  
Without warning, all the clones started attacking one another like some massive battle royal. As they did, Ranma turned toward the frog.  
"What's that kid doing?" the frog asked.  
"You're telling me," Ranma said.  
The two of them watched as all those Naruto went about attacking one another.  
"So what's your story?" the frog said to Ranma, wanting to make conversation.  
"Me? I dunno, I'm some dude that somehow ended in this world by accident and just wanna go home," Ranma chuckled, "And from my point of view, perhaps that's what happened to you, that is, if Naruto summoned you from somewhere,"  
The frog snorted in annoyance, "You're telling me. I was enjoying a swim in a large lake when I suddenly found myself here. Think of how annoyed I should be,"  
"I guess you have a point," Ranma said, "Man, no offence, but I find it very weird that I'm talking to a frog,"  
"So what? I find it weird I'm talking to a human," the frog retorted.  
Ranma chuckled. "You hungry?" Ranma asked.  
"Of course," the frog said.  
Ranma sat down and placed his bento box right by his feet. He opened it up and placed the top of the bento box in front of the frog. He used his chopsticks to place some rice on the box top.  
The frog ate the rice in a single gulp and smiled at Ranma, "Thanks. You're a good guy, unlike that kid over there,"  
"I try to be," Ranma said, "Want more?"  
"Sure," the frog said easily.  
Ranma placed a larger helping of rice on the box top to which the frog swallowed it up in a single gulp once again.  
"Thanks," the frog said, "I appreciate it,"  
"No problem," Ranma said.  
"Who is that kid?" the frog asked.  
"He's kinda like my disciple," Ranma said, "I've been training him as of late,"  
"Ah, so you're his sensei?" the frog asked, "I kinda feel sorry for you. He seems rather annoying,"  
Ranma laughed, "Nah, he's all right if you get to know him. He's a pretty quick learner,"  
"Hmph," the frog seemed unconvinced.  
"So, what are you hobbies?" Ranma asked, "Eating flies? Swimming in a lake?"  
The frog looked at Ranma like he grew a second head, "Huh?"  
"Hey, man, frog, whatever, I've never talked to a frog before," Ranma said, "I'm just trying to make conversation to pass the time while Naruto does whatever the heck he does. How the hell should I know what the heck to talk about,"  
The frog chuckled.  
They conversed about nothing in general as they watched Naruto and his clones continue to rumble. Before long, all of the clones were gone and an exhausted Naruto was alone once again.  
"Now what?" Ranma called out to Naruto, "You gonna try some that Summoning no Jutsu technique again?"  
"Yeah," Naruto said between gasps for air.  
He slammed his hand down on the ground again.  
"Summoning no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted.  
A massive cloud of smoke emerged from around Naruto's hand, expanding outward in every direction, surprising Ranma as he brought his hands upward to shield his face from the rush of smoke.  
"What the?" Ranma said in surprise.  
When the smoke disappeared, Ranma found himself looking up as a body of mass in front of him, so large that he could see nothing but it. Tilting is head back, he found himself looking up at what looked like a giant frog around a hundred feet tall. Standing on the top of his head, a look of victory on his face, was Naruto.  
The giant frog, was so large it made that Gaara monster seem small in comparison. It had red skin and was clad in what looked like a giant black cloak. There was a massive sheathed sword by the frog's hip area. The giant frog was quite a sight to behold and had this presence to it that impressed Ranma greatly. The aura it gave of was as if it was the king of creatures, perhaps the greatest and most powerful creature anyone could possibly summon.  
The frog was so large that more that three-quarters of the river was being diverts, his massive body taking up that much space.  
"Wow, the kid summoned my pop," the frog said.  
"Pop? That frog's your pop?" Ranma said in surprise.  
Ranma found himself at a loss of words as he simply stared at the giant frog in awe. Naruto must had summoned him there, that was the only reason. If that was the case, it was something he never knew Naruto was capable of.  
"Where the hell am I?" the frog said in a loud booming voice, the calm surface of the river shuddering with ripples from his loud voice.  
"Gamabunta!" Naruto said proudly, "I have summoned you here to help me out! I'm counting on your help, boss!"  
"Oh, it's you," Gamabunta seemed to recognize Naruto standing on his head.  
"I request your help in getting me across this river!" Naruto said, pointing down toward the river, or what little there is of it since the frog covered so much of it.  
"No," Gamabunta said, "You said you'd make me your underling last time. A boss is someone who's supposed to help out an underling when he's in trouble, ain't he? Why should I help you out if I'm you're so-called underling?"  
"Hey, Pop!" the tiny frog shouted out.  
Gamabunta looked down and noticed the tiny frog, "Gamakichi? What are you doing here?"  
"I'm just hanging around," the small frog said, "Ranma here is a nice guy,"  
Gamabunta looked at Ranma, bringing his face close to Ranma. The size of Gamabunta's eyes were larger than Ranma and it made Ranma somewhat nervous.  
Ranma waved, giving a sheepish smile, "Um, hello," He couldn't help but feel this great sense of awe, completely at a loss of words.  
"Gamabunta! I want you get me across the river!" Naruto said.  
"Why should I help you?" Gamabunta said, "Just because you summoned me, that doesn't obligate me to do anything for you,"  
"Fine, if you won't help me, then I'll help myself!" Naruto shouted.  
Naruto made a dash down the front of Gamabunta's head and leapt off the top of his mouth, arching across the sky and landing on the other side of the river. Because Gamabunta's massive frame took up a good portion of the river already, the distance he needed to leap wasn't all that much, even with the weighted vest on.  
"I did it!" Naruto shouted gleefully out from across the river, "I crossed the river like you wanted me to!"  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a moment and realized that Naruto had indeed crossed the river. Of course, summoning a giant frog and using his large frame to basically bring him more than halfway across the river and jumping across the rest of the way wasn't want Ranma had had in mind.  
"What is going on here?" Gamabunta said in annoyance, "Why am I here?"  
"I summoned you here to help me cross the river!" Naruto shouted in response.  
"What? You used me as some kind of bridge for you to help you cross the river?" Gamabunta seemed angered at the statement.  
Naruto said, "It wouldn't had been like that if you simply did as I asked you to do and took one step over across the river,"  
Gamabunta stuck a tongue out toward Naruto and wrapped it around him. He then picked Naruto as Naruto screamed out him and placed him back down on the same side of the river as Ranma.  
"You dumb frog, why'd you go and do that?" Naruto shouted up at Gamabunta.  
"I will not be used as some kinda makeshift bridge across a river, especially by some snot-nosed kinda like you," Gamabunta said.  
"Says you!" Naruto said, running up the back of the giant frog, intent on making a leap off his nose an onto the other side of the river again.  
"I don't think so!" Gamabunta said, taking a step back and out of the river. Unfortunately for Naruto, he had been so caught up with running up Gamabunta's back and he didn't notice Gamabunta had backed out of the river until after he had leapt off the giant frogs mouth and found himself falling down right into the middle of the river.  
Naruto ended up falling into the middle of the river with a large splash.  
"Oh shit!" Ranma shouted, realizing that the weighted vest would be nothing but a dead weight on Naruto and that there would be no way for him to swim to the surface with it on.  
Before Ranma had a chance to run up to the river and dive in after Naruto, Gamabunta shot out a his tongue and into the river where it wrapped around the sinking Naruto, pulling him out of the river merely seconds after he fell in it.  
Naruto was coughing as he was being held by Gamabunta's tongue, having swallowed too much water.  
Gamabunta place Naruto down right by Ranma's side, "Damn punk. I seriously wonder how you're still alive when you do stupid things like that,"  
It seemed like Gamabunta wasn't so mean a creature afterall. He had a mean exterior but wasn't nearly as mean on the inside.  
"If you get me to the other side, then this would not had happened!" Naruto coughed a few times.  
"You say this like it's my fault!" Gamabunta shouted, "If this is some damn training you're undergoing, I want no part in it!"  
Without saying another word, Gamabunta disappeared in a massive cloud of smoke, disappearing much in the same fashion as a clone of Naruto's would when struck.  
When the smoke cleared up, Ranma and Naruto and the small frog were all that remained.  
"Well, I guess I best be going too," the small frog said, "It was nice meeting you,"  
"Um, yeah, likewise," Ranma said. The frog disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind only Ranma and Naruto.  
"Damn you, Gamabunta! Why didn't you just drop me off on the other side of the river?" Naruto shouted toward the empty space where Gamabunta had been a second ago.  
After a moment, he sighed, "Damn, now I'm back at square one and completely outta chakra,"  
Ranma just regarded Naruto. There was a definite look of shock on awe on Ranma's face as he recalled what had transpired a minute ago. Who the heck was this kid? How the hell did he summon such a massive creature like Gamabunta? Naruto constantly surprised him, but nothing had surprised him like summoning Gamabunta.  
"Naruto," Ranma said after he was finally able to get over his initial speechlessness.  
"Yeah?" Naruto asked, a bit angry, but mostly at himself.  
Ranma patted Naruto proudly on his back several times, nearly knocking the wind out of him in the process.  
"Naruto, whatever you did back there, that was awesome!"

Naruto and Ranma sat right by the riverbed as they ate. Ranma was finishing up what remained of his meal while Naruto eagerly ate at his meal.  
"I figured you were going to use that Kage Bunshin no Jutsu technique of yours to conjure clones for yourself," Ranma stated, "I figured you were going to use them to gather small portions of ki and give 'em to you so it could help you walk across the river,"  
Naruto bonked the top of his head, "Oh, why didn't I think of that?"  
Ranma almost fell off the bridge from surprise at the statement, "Jeez, I can't believe that never crossed your mind,"  
Naruto gave a sheepish smile.  
"Look, let's scratch the training," Ranma said, "Let's get going after you're done eating. It's getting late anyway,"  
Naruto said, "No, I wanna pass this test before we move on,"  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a moment before he shrugged, "Fine. But let's not take too long. Keep in mind that we're a good twenty miles out from the village and it will take us at least a three hour jog to get there from here. It'll be really late by the time we get there,"  
"Okay," Naruto said, "That just means I hafta get across on the first try,"  
Ranma smirked, "Don't worry about that. If you don't succeed right away, we can always come back here tomorrow. This is just an exercise anyway that you don't hafta take serious,"  
"But I wanna take it seriously," Naruto said vehemently, "If this will help me out, then I want to do it, today, not tomorrow,"  
"Okay," Ranma shrugged, "Suit yourself. Heh, maybe you might even surprise me. As of late, you've been constantly surprise me," Ranma smiled, "And speaking of which, that bit with you summoning that giant frog, Gamabunta, was really impressive," "Nothing near as impressive as when you did that super-huge ki-blast on top of that mountain a few days ago," Naruto stated, "I would much rather be able to do something like that super ki-blast of yours than be able to summon a giant frog like Gamabunta,"  
Ranma snickered, "Let's hope Gamabunta doesn't hear you say that. He'd probably kick your ass,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Who is Gamabunta? How'd you learn to summon him?" Ranma asked curiously.  
"Jiraiya taught me," Naruto answered, "It took me a good week to learn how to summon him, and that was after Jiraiya threw me down a damn chasm and the only way for me to live was to summon him,"  
Ranma whistled, "Wow, that's a rather harsh and scary training method. Effective, but downright dangerous. But then again, I'm sure Jiraiya did that because he was confident in your abilities,"  
"Hmph!" Naruto muttered.  
Ranma chuckled, "Actually, if I think about it, I've already done something similar to what Jiraiya did to you,"  
"You did? What?" Naruto asked.  
"I let you fight against that large guy when we went after Sasuke," Ranma said, "I could've easily've taken care of all four of them, but I left that guy for you to take care of him. He could've killed you,"  
Naruto smirked, "Maybe, but he didn't. I ended up kicking his ass actually,"  
"That's a good way to look at things," Ranma said, "It's better to see the bright side of things like the way you do. And speaking of which, you're gonna be in more situations like that from here on,"  
"I don't care," Naruto grinned, "Bring 'em on. I'll defeat 'em,"  
"You know why you'll be in such situations, right?" Ranma asked.  
"Why?" Naruto asked.  
"Because, I won't be here much longer," Ranma said, "It's only a matter of time before I'm gone,"  
Naruto's lips became a thin line.  
"Y-you say that like you're dying," Naruto said after a long pause.  
"Of course not," Ranma said softly, "I'm going home. Unfortunately, where I'm going, I won't be coming back, so basically, you might as well consider my having died since there's a high chance you'll never see me again,"  
Naruto said nothing, feeling a sense of sadness about the day that Ranma would be leaving this world.  
Ranma and Naruto arrived at the first inn they came across in the village somewhere around midnight.  
Naruto had succeeded in crossing the river after many failed attempts. He had found out that in order for him to draw in enough constantly ki to keep him afloat, he needed well over a hundred clones drawing in ki at once and supplying him a constantly amount. The fact that the clones would sink unless they themselves had enough ki to float as well meant a lot of ki control between all those clones.  
"That reminded me of the time I was learning to walk up trees," Naruto had mentioned after having finally succeeded, "That exercise centered around channeling the perfect amount of chakra so I could stick to the tree,"  
Ranma smiled, "Thing of water-walking with the vest on as the next level up to that exercise you did,"  
"So, what kinda training will we be doing tomorrow?" Naruto asked, "Something new?"  
"Nah," Ranma grinned, "We're gonna do what I mentioned back at the ramen shop, we're going to be sparring and I won't be giving you my ki as protection,"  
Naruto said nothing. He had forgotten about that.  
"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you,"  
Naruto seemed relieved, "Okay,"  
There was a moment of silence as Ranma and Naruto regarded each other, much like the way a disciple and his master would regard one another, with a level or respect and admiration on both sides.  
"Um, thanks," Naruto said softly.  
"For what?" Ranma asked.  
"For training me," Naruto blushed, "I never realized I was able to channel my chakra that well. And pretty soon, it'll probably be the same for evading. Knowing you and the way you teach, I'll probably be able to dodge things I believed was impossible to dodge before long,"  
Ranma said, "You've always had the potential to do some pretty wicked stuff, I'm just helping it along. Actually, I'm kinda forcing it along. The fact that you're very tenacious with your training and never give up really helps,"  
Naruto said, "Gee, I wonder how far along Lee would get if you trained him. I don't think I know a guy that trains harder than he does,"  
"Lee? Oh, the kid I helped out that had that messed up arm and leg?" Ranma asked.  
"Yeah," Naruto said, "You helped him out a lot. It was said that he couldn't be a ninja anymore because of the injuries he sustained in his fight against Gaara,"  
Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "Nah, that kid's tough as nails. He'll recover fine even if I wasn't around to help him along. Even those bone shard around his spine won't really effect him,"  
"What? Bone shards?" Naruto asked.  
"I noticed some bone shard by his spine," Ranma said, "I didn't bother mentioning it to him or anyone else because I didn't want to worry him. There's nothing I can do about those, but it doesn't matter, the damage he took to his legs and arms are actually more debilitating to him than those shards. He'll be fine now that they're healed,"  
"I'm glad to hear that," Naruto smiled, "He's a nice guy. A bit weird, but nice,"  
"Heh," Ranma shrugged, "And who knows, perhaps when you get back to Hidden Leaf Village from this training trip, he'll want to fight against you. He seems like the kid that wants to test himself against strong opponents,"  
Naruto said nothing. He had noticed how Ranma had used 'you' instead of 'we' terms of getting back to Hidden Leaf Village.

Ranma glanced out the window of his motel room.  
Naruto was sleeping soundly in his bed on the other side of the room. It was around one in the morning. Naruto had gone straight to sleep after they both made it to the village, exhausted.  
Ranma opened the window and shouted out toward the alleyway located between the two buildings adjacent the motel.  
"Shizune, you and Ton-Ton can come out now," Ranma said, "I know you're hiding there,"  
A minute passed in silence.  
"I know you're there," Ranma said, "I know you're tracking me,"  
After a moment, from out of the shadows emerged Shizune, Ton-Ton in her arms.  
"I knew you've been tracking us since the bridge," Ranma said, "You're a good ninja, but you're not gonna hide from me,"  
"How'd you know it was me?" Shizune asked, looking up at Ranma's motel window.  
"Before I left Naruto alone, I did a quick scan of the area for Itachi and Kisame," Ranma said, "Instead, I found you and Ton-Ton. You're really good at hiding your presence, but not good enough to hide from me,"  
Shizune had this sad look on her face, as if she had just failed as a ninja.  
"C'mon up," Ranma said.  
Shizune could be seen contemplating his request. After a moment, she jumped up in the air and landed on the windowsill. Ranma stepped backward as she entered the room, watching as she placed Ton-Ton down on the floor.  
"Don't worry, that kid sleeps like the dead," Ranma said, noticing Shizune regarding the sleeping Naruto, "He's exhausted from today and it'll take a lot to wake him up. So, how come you're tracking me, or better yet, us?"  
Shizune said, "Tsunade asked me to. She wanted to make sure you did nothing funny. She told me of how you now know of the 'Tool of Banishment',"  
Ranma smiled, "Well, no offense, but even if I did wanna do some kinda funny business, it's highly unlikely you'll be able to stop me. But don't worry about it, I'm not up to no good,"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"If you want, you're welcome to travel with us," Ranma said, "I've got plenty of money with me and have no problems with renting out two bedroom, one for me and Naruto, and one for you and Ton-Ton. Being stealthy must be hard since that means you and Ton-Ton'll be alternating sleeping since you guys need to keep watch over us in case we leave. This way, you won't hafta worry about it,"  
The thought of sleeping on a bed did sound nice to Shizune.  
"C'mon, I'll go rent you your own room," Ranma headed for the door.  
"Wait, you don't have to do that," Shizune said, chasing after Ranma.  
"Where do you intend to sleep?" Ranma smirked, "I'm going to go to sleep soon and I like sleeping on a bed. There's only one bed left, not unless you wanna sleep in the same bed as me,"  
Shizune blushed, "Of course not,"  
"Then with Naruto," he said.  
"No, I don't think so," she said, "I'll sleep on the floor,"  
"Hell no," Ranma said, "I like sleeping on a bad and I know that I will not be able to go to sleep knowing that you're sleeping on the floor. We're getting you your own bedroom,"  
Shizune said nothing, a bit touched by the gesture.  
"You know what was that huge frog Naruto summoned?"  
"Gamabunta," Shizune said, "Much like the way Tsunade can summon Katsuyu, that giant slug, and Orochimaru can summon Manda, that giant snake, Jiraiya summons Gamabunta. They're the three summons of preference for the Three Legendary Ninjas,"  
Ranma and Shizune were conversing in the lobby of the motel, right by the counter, Ranma having already rented out a room for Shizune and Ton-Ton. They were merely passing some time before either of them got sleepy. Going to sleep at one in the morning seemed a bit early. Ton-Ton slept soundly right by Ranma's feet.  
"So lemme get this straight, Naruto can summon the same summon as Jiraiya summons?" Ranma asked, "That's crazy,"  
Shizune nodded, "I didn't know he could do that. Imagine how surprise I was when I saw him do it. The only people I have heard that was able to summon Gamabunta was Jiraiya and the Fourth Hokage,"  
"Hm, that makes sense," Ranma said. Perhaps that was why Naruto was able to summon Gamabunta, because he had a natural talent like his father.  
"What makes sense?" she asked.  
"Nothing," he said.  
"Anyway, with Naruto being able to summon Gamabunta, and the Fourth Hokage being able to do so as well," Ranma whistled, "Perhaps Naruto is farther along the road to being Hokage than I thought,"  
Shizune smiled, "And with your help, he's moving along at a much faster rate,"  
At that moment, three identical looking girls, triplets, entered the lobby. They walked up to the counter. They were clad in party dresses and looked a bit buzzed, as if they had been drinking too much sake. Ranma stepped out of the way for them to pass.  
"My, yer a hottie," one of the triplet said, reaching a hand up and running a finger down the side of Ranma's face.  
Ranma smirked, "Ain't it a bit early to be buzzed already? It's only around one in the morning. Most people don't stagger into their beds until around three-ish,"  
"We started early," another girl said.  
"We're gonna drink in th'hotel room, would y'care t'join us?" the third girl said, gesturing toward the bottle of sake she had in her arms, "It'll be fun,"  
"Maybe another time," Ranma smiled.  
"In case yer interested, our hotel room number's 205," the first girl said.  
"Thanks," Ranma snickered, "I'll keep that in mind,"  
The girls waved goodbye to him as he waved goodbye to them as well. He watched as the girls walked past him and staggered up the stairs at the other end of the lobby, disappearing around a corner.  
"They seemed nice girls," Ranma said.  
When he turned back toward Shizune to continue their conversation before those triplet interrupted them, she saw Shizune picking up Ton-Ton.  
"It's best that I be going to sleep now," she said, her voice a bit icy, as if she was angry at him, "Thanks for the hotel room. C'mon, Ton-Ton, let's go,"  
Without saying another world, she walked off, carrying Ton-Ton with her as she headed up the stairs and disappeared around the corner.  
Ranma found himself confused.  
"What the hell did I do?"

new stuff 12/23

Shizune snapped wide awake when someone knocked on her door.  
For a brief moment, she didn't know where she was. When she did, she turned her attention toward the door as someone knocked a second time. She quickly hopped out of the bed and grabbed some daggers from the small night table next to her bed.  
"Who is it?" she asked, cautious.  
"Who do you think it is?" she recognized Ranma's voice, "I came to wake you up. Naruto and I are up and we're about to head out to get some breakfast. Y'wanna come eat with us?"  
Shizune quickly looked down at herself and noticed how disheveled she looked. She quickly got out of bed and headed over toward the nearby mirror in one corner of the room and looked at herself. Her hair was a mess. She quickly went about fixing her hair for a second before she realized what she was doing.  
What the heck am I doing this for, she thought with a blush.  
"Well?" came Ranma's voice, "You wanna go get some breakfast? If wanna keep sleeping, we can come back and get ya later,"  
She quickly walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Ranma's back as he was walking away, "No, we'll come along,"  
Ranma turned around to face her, "You sure?"  
"Um, yeah, I'll go get Ton-Ton," she said, cursing herself. Some tracker she was. Had Ranma not chosen to wake her up, he could have left and been long gone before she even realized she had lost him.  
"Okay, we'll meet you at the front of the hotel," he said. Her regarded Shizune for a moment.  
"What?" she felt a bit nervous by his scrutinizing gaze.  
"If you're gonna spend so much time fixing your hair their early in the morning, it also helps to close the front of your outfit,"  
Shizune looked down at herself and noticed the front of her ninja outfit was wide open and that Ranma had had a clear view of her breasts. The bandage-like wrappings she wore around her chest to keep her breasts from bouncing around had come undone, her breasts exposed completely for Ranma to see.  
She blushed a deep shade of red. Before she could say anything, Ranma said something first. "Don't even bother calling me a pervert, I've been through this situation enough times that I find it clich ,"  
"You know what village is this?" Ranma asked.  
"Ryugen," Shizune stated, "It's a cemetery village,"  
It was early morning and Shizune, Ranma, Naruto, and Ton-Ton were walking down a street together. Naruto didn't seem to mind having Shizune tag along, so long as it didn't interfere with his training. The two of them were looking for a good place to stop to have some breakfast before heading off on their journey.  
"Ryugen?" Naruto said, "I've heard of that name. Isn't it that village where unidentified dead are buried?"  
Ranma perked an eyebrow.  
"We live in a dangerous time," Shizune said, "Many people die on a daily basis Those that can't be identified are buried here,"  
"Cemetery village, huh?" Ranma asked, "How come I don't see any cemeteries?"  
"It's on the northern outskirts of the village," Shizune said, "There's a huge cemetery. You can't see it from here because all the buildings are blocking the view,"  
"Okay," Ranma said.  
"I've never been here before," Naruto said nervously, "I hope we don't bump into any ghosts or vengeful spirits or such,"  
Ranma shrugged.  
"What, that doesn't make you nervous?" Naruto asked.  
"Been there, done that," Ranma said.  
"You've dealt with ghosts and vengeful spirits before?" Shizune asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "On several occasions actually. They used to freak me out, but not anymore. I got used to dealing with 'em. I got used to dealing with a lotta things actually,"  
Shizune and Naruto looked at one another.  
"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Shizune smirked.  
"More than you know," Ranma grinned.  
"Hey, how about we eat there?" Naruto pointed toward a ramen shop.  
"Man, you sure have a thing for ramen, dontcha?" Ranma chuckled.  
Naruto smiled happily.  
"Sure do,"

"Well well well, look at what we've got here," Ranma said, mostly to himself Ranma, Naruto, Shizune, and Ton-Ton, were about to leave the village when Ranma had said that. Having had an uneventful breakfast, they used the rest of money they had left to buy some camping equipment like sleeping bags and tents.  
Naruto had offered to carry all the camping equipment, considering it an extra form of training. Ranma didn't seem to have any complaints in letting the young boy do so. The extra weight wasn't so much that it would really bother Naruto anyway. As they were crossing the large cemetery, Ranma had spotted someone familiar.  
"Why'd you stop?" Naruto asked.  
"Itachi," Ranma said, "I see Itachi,"  
"What?" Shizune and Naruto shouted.  
Ranma smirked, "Heh, perhaps you should shout a little louder to give away our positions. I don't think he heard you,"  
Both Naruto and Shizune crouched low to the ground, as if that would help make them less likely to be spotted.  
Ranma pointed toward a lone figure in the far off distance standing by a makeshift tombstone that was basically nothing more than two pieces of wood nailed into a cross that was sticking out of the ground.  
Itachi's back was toward them and there was no indication that he had seen them. Itachi was without his cloak and Ranma couldn't help but snicker at that fact.  
"Go hide," Ranma told Shizune and Naruto, "I'm gonna go see what he's up to,"  
"What? Why?" Naruto asked.  
"I'm just curious," Ranma said, "Nothing more, nothing less,"  
"I'm coming with you," Naruto said.  
Ranma laughed, "Sure, if you want him to give away your presence. I highly doubt someone as skillful as Itachi will not sense you and Shizune, especially with that ki-filled vest you're wearing,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Go," Ranma shooed the both of them off, "Don't go doing anything stupid. It's usually stupid things that get you into trouble,"  
"What about you? You're doing a stupid thing if you intend to sneak up on him to get a closer look," Shizune stated.  
Ranma said, "That's because I always do stupid things thing this. You shouldn't follow me by example," "What kind of excuse is that?" Shizune said.  
Ranma said, "Look, I can take care of myself. Even if he realizes my presence, I can deal with him and Kisame, if that guy's nearby. If you go, what kinda predicament do you think that'll put me in? I'll hafta deal with Itachi and Kisame and watch over the both of you,"  
"I can take care of myself," Naruto said confidently.  
"Are you freaking nuts?" Ranma said, "This Itachi guy is probably one of the most powerful fighters you'll come across. He's way outta your league, at least in this point in your development,"  
Naruto said, "But I can spar against you and hold my own against you really well,"  
Ranma said in a stern voice, "Forget it! Stay here! With Shizune! I'll be damned if either of you guys do something stupid and I hafta come around and save you or something. I may be able to protect you against them, but why take that chance? Why put me in such a predicament where I hafta worry over you?"  
Naruto sighed, "Fine. I'll stay,"  
"Thanks," Ranma said.  
Ranma crouched low to the ground as he quickly sneaked his way closer and closer toward where Itachi was. Thanks to there being many trees within the cemetery, Ranma had plenty of hiding places. After a minute of sneaking forward, Ranma found himself hiding behind a tree around ten feet behind Itachi.  
Peering around the tree, Ranma regarded Itachi's back as he stood in front of the grave site and wondered whose tombstone Itachi was visiting. There were no labels or name tag on the gravesite indicating whose grave it was. It had a small bouquet of flowers resting in front of the grave.  
Could this be the grave of a dead girlfriend, Ranma thought curiously. That would be interesting turn of events. Maybe Itachi is the way he is because he tragically lost his girlfriend. Something like that can easily change a guy. Then again, considering that dude killed his own parents, I kinda wonder if he's even capable of loving anyone, let alone develop the kinda feelings to actually miss them.  
"Mom. Dad. I miss you," Itachi said, his voice actually sounding sad, "But don't worry, we will see each other again very soon," Hm, what could that mean, Ranma thought. Is Itachi dying? Maybe that's why he wants the power of the Nine-Tails, so he can cure himself of whatever disease he might have. But then again, considering how bad he is, you'd figure he would just scare the disease away.  
Glancing past Itachi, he caught sight of Kisame as the large man could be seen walking up the side of the hill. The large man seemed rather annoyed, like he had been waiting around for Itachi for far too long and his impatience finally got the better of him.  
Kisame was without his sword which made Ranma smirk.  
"You've been in front this grave for the past hour," Kisame said impatiently, "Let's get going,"  
"I told you, I'll leave when I feel like it," Itachi said in a very cold voice.  
Kisame said nothing, not wanting to push Itachi any farther. He simply turned around and started walking back down the hill, stopping in front of a tree and leading against it, his arms crossed in front of his chest.  
Ranma found himself very confused.  
I don't understand, he thought. This is the grave site of his parents? But he killed them. Why the hell would he visit his parents if he was the one that killed them? That doesn't make any sense. This is really weird. I wish I read into Itachi's mind some more, or at least deeper than the surface. If I had, I'd know what the hell the meaning of this is.  
Naruto was silent as he listened to Ranma's story. That was the first time he was finding out about exactly who Itachi was and how he had killed his own parents, which meant he killed Sasuke's parents as well.  
"So that's what Sasuke meant that his goal is to kill someone!" Naruto said, "He wants to avenge his parents' deaths and kill his own brother. That's why he's so power-hungry, because Itachi's so strong that there's no way Sasuke can defeat him the way he is now,"  
Ranma smirked, "Hm, if that's true, then that's a pretty good observation. I did notice Sasuke seemed to lust for power. That's probably a really good reason,"  
"But that doesn't make sense," Shizune said, "If he killed his parents, why is he visiting their grave?"  
Ranma scratched his head, "Actually, there's something else that confuses me. Why are his parents buried here? They were Itachi's and Sasuke's parents. Shouldn't they be buried elsewhere?"  
"You're right, of all places, they would be buried in Hidden Leaf Village's own cemetery," Shizune said, "They shouldn't be buried here in a cemetery dedicated to unidentified dead,"  
Ranma smirked, "Ooh, it seems like we have a mystery on our hands,"  
Shizune sat on a log by Ton-Ton as she watched Ranma and Naruto spar against one another. It was the middle of the day and the group had stopped for lunch down by a river crossing, after an hour or so of sparring. They had lunch they packed up that they bought before they left the village. As she watched the sparring, she couldn't help but be amazed at Naruto's fighting abilities. This was the first time she was seeing him actually fight and it was very impressive.  
Naruto could be seen getting progressively better with every sparring session, each session lasting until he got struck. Between sessions, he usually needed some time to recover, Ranma's half-assed attacks painfully powerful, as well as time to muster up the courage to spar against him yet again.  
"He fights easily at the Chuunin level," Shizune said to Ton-Ton, "Now, if he takes off the vest..."  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times.  
"Now how the heck does Ranma understand what you say?" Shizune giggled, "It's obvious that you can understand what I'm saying, but how the heck does it work the other way around?"  
"Heh, you look weird talking to a pig," came Ranma's voice.  
Shizune looked up and saw Ranma approaching her. She couldn't help but feel a bit hungry and eager to eat.  
"I told Naruto to give walking on water a go," Ranma said, jerking a thumb over his back, "Once he gets across to the other side and back, we can eat. If you're that hungry, you can go ahead and eat without us,"  
"Nah, I can wait," she said.  
Ranma sat down on the log next to Shizune and gave Ton-Ton a pet.  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times to Ranma.  
"Heh, Ton-Ton says you believe Naruto fights at the Chuunin level, huh?" Ranma smirked.  
"You must have heard me say that," she seemed skeptic, "You're just pretending you can actually understand what Ton-Ton is saying,"  
Ranma turned toward Ton-Ton, "Hey, tell me something that will prove to Shizune here, without a shadow of a doubt, that I can actually understand you,"  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times.  
"Ton-Ton says you like to cook and are actually good at it but you're scared to let people other than Tsunade know about it," Ranma said, "This is because you believe it makes you seem weak as a ninja since you consider cooking a skill meant for housewives, not for a ninja. Is that true?"  
Shizune said nothing, feeling as if she Ranma had just called her on her bluff and she had lost utterly. Her silence told volumes.  
Ranma laughed, placing an arm around Shizune, "Wow, I never realized that. You should cook me something,"  
"You've got me all wrong!" she shouted at him, horribly embarrassed, "I don't like cooking!"  
Ranma regarded her for a moment before he shrugged and decided to drop it, "Okay, if you say so. Frankly, I dunno what there is to be ashamed of anyway,"  
Shizune said nothing.  
There was a moment of awkward silence, as if Shizune felt like Ranma had found out a horrible secret about her, something she didn't want anyone to know about. Much to Shizune's relief, Naruto was a good distraction as he could be heard shouting out toward the two of them.  
"I did it!" came his voice, "I crossed the river like you wanted!"  
Ranma turned his gaze from Shizune and onto Naruto, "Already? Jeez! I wasn't even paying all that much attention and you already managed to cross the river? Unreal,"  
He noticed that Naruto was indeed on the other side of the small river and there were several dozen clones standing near him.  
Naruto grinned, "I'm a quick learner,"  
Ranma smiled.  
"All right. Come on back. Let's eat some lunch and then be on our way,"

The group came across another river crossing sometime late in the evening. This time, the bridge was located right near the bottom of a waterfall. Having walked for several hours down a dirt path with nothing but forest on either side, the slight change in scenery was much appreciated.  
"Are you going to give me another river crossing exercise?" Naruto smirked, "Because if you are, I'll be back and across within minutes,"  
"My, aren't we being a bit confident today?" Ranma grinned, "All right, how about we change the exercise for this one? For this crossing, you hafta swim across the river. No clones for help either, all on your own,"  
"Swim? You mean I can't walk on the water?" Naruto gasped.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "Since it seems like you know how to walk on water with the vest one, what with all that help from your clones gathering ki, let's see how well you actually tread water,"  
Naruto seemed a bit worried, "Um, I dunno about that,"  
"Where'd that confidence go?" Ranma grinned, taunting the young boy, "It was there a second ago. Sounds to me that it's nothing but all talk,"  
Naruto found himself getting angry, "I can too cross the river!"  
"Go ahead then," Ranma said, gesturing, the river's right there, "Just hand me the camping equipment. It's getting late. We can set up camp here for the night,"  
Naruto eagerly handed Ranma the camping equipment. Shizune was about to make a comment but didn't. Instead, she and Ton-Ton followed Ranma across the bridge to the other side.  
"This is a good place to set up camp," Ranma said, "You know how to make a campfire?"  
"Of course," she said.  
"Okay," Ranma said, proceeding to unpack the tents, "Go make a campfire. I'm gonna pitch the tents,"  
Shizune narrowed her eyes toward Ranma, "I really don't like how you're simply telling me what to do. There's a thing called asking,"  
"Fine," Ranma said, "Please, go make a campfire,"  
"That's not asking," Shizune said in annoyance, "That's simply making a command, but being nice about it,"  
"Shizune, can you please be a darling and make a campfire?" Ranma asked as warmly as possible, "I would very much appreciate it,"  
"Now you're just mocking me," she said coldly.  
Ranma sighed. He then said, "Y'know what? Don't do anything. Just sit there and look pretty for all I care. I'll do everything,"  
Shizune blushed at the comment. Pretty? He thought she was pretty? She looked a bit like a tomboy with that short hair of hers and ninja outfit of hers.  
She just watched in silence as Ranma went about pitching a tent. It took only a few minutes for him to do so, a feat which surprised Shizune. It usually took much longer to pitch tents perfectly like the way Ranma did.  
"You've must've done that a lot, pitching a tent," she said.  
"Yeah, more so in the mornings when I wake up, if y'know what I mean," Ranma chuckled at his own joke.  
Shizune was confused at the comment. It was obvious Ranma was making some kind of joke to lighten the atmosphere but it seemed like she didn't understand its meaning.  
"Don't worry about it, it's a guy thing," Ranma said, walking over and proceeding to pitch a second tent, erecting it in a few minutes as well.  
Shizune asked, "Is that tent for me?"  
"Yeah, this tent's yours and Ton-Ton's," Ranma said, gesturing, "Naruto and I will sleep in the other tent. Three people and a pig to a tent is a bit cozy and I dunno what your feelings are about sleeping in the same tent as two guys,"  
"Um, thanks," she said, grateful of Ranma's consideration. Ranma could be seen throwing one backpack in one tent and the other backpack in the other.  
"The backpack contains stuff like the ground mat and sleeping bag," Ranma said, "That way, you won't get cold at night. Now, I'm gonna go make us a campfire,"  
Shizune quickly spoke up, "Wait, I'll make it,"  
"I thought you didn't want to," he said.  
"No, I'll make it," she felt guilty that Ranma had helped her out and pitched her tent without her asking. It made her feel bad she gave him some frustrations over something so trivial as him asking her to make a campfire.  
Ranma asked, "Are y'sure?"  
"Yes," she said, "I'll make it. I didn't mean to give you a hard time over it,"  
Ranma said, "It's okay. Since you're gonna make the campfire, I'll go hunt some animals for tonight's dinner," He smirked toward Ton-Ton, "But then again, considering we have a perfectly edible pig here..."  
Ton-Ton squeaked toward Ranma, as if it found the comment not funny one bit.  
Ranma chuckled.  
"C'mon, Ton-Ton, tag along," he said to the pig, "I'll go hunt for some animals for tonight. You can help out and look for truffles. That way, we can have some variety,"  
Shizune watched as Ton-Ton followed Ranma into the forest.  
After he was gone, she went about preparing her campfire, starting off with collecting some medium sized rocks to form into a circle on the ground. When she was done with doing so, that only taking around ten minutes at most, she went into the woods to look for firewood Collecting firewood was no problem for her, she collecting it by breaking tiny branches from the top of the trees. After she was finished collecting firewood around ten minutes later, she emerged from the forest and out onto the campsite.  
As she was placing wood in the campfire circle, she glanced in the direction of Naruto, curious as to his progress. To her shock, Naruto was doggie-paddling across the river.  
"I did it!" Naruto shouted triumphantly when he emerged on the other side of the river. The fact that he was soaking went didn't seem to bother him one bit.  
Naruto had found out that there was no way he could swim across the river using his hands and feet. He figured out that the only way to wade across was to use chakra to lighten himself enough to be somewhat buoyant in the water. Only then was he able to swim across the river.  
It had only taken Naruto around a half-hour to overcome that exercise Ranma had given him.  
Shizune had this shocked look on her face as she watched Naruto jump back into the river again, doggie-paddling around as if to do a victory lap as a way of saying to himself he had done a job well done.  
"Jeez, the rate Naruto is growing is incredible,"

new stuff 12/26

"A hot bath right would seem Heavenly," Shizune said, rubbing her shoulders. While she had taken a shower earlier in the morning, she never liked going long without one. The hot water always soothed her body.  
"That sounds like a good idea," Ranma said, getting up from his meal. He had basically finished his dinner so there was nothing much else to eat.  
He walked over to by the river as Naruto, Shizune, and Ton-Ton watching him curiously. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ranma said as he jammed a finger into the rocky ground right by the river. A small explosion occurred as the rocks few everywhere but not coming close to hitting to others. When the dust cleared up, there was a small crater around thirty feet in diameter located around ten feet from the river itself.  
"What are you doing?" Shizune asked. She and Naruto were both watching Ranma curiously.  
"I'm making us a man-made hot spring," Ranma said, "Just gimme a minute and you'll see,"  
Ranma went about removing the rocks separating the crater and the river. Before long, water from the river pouring into the crater, filling it up within a minute. When it was filled, Ranma placed the rocks back in their place, separating the river from the water-filled crater.  
"That's not what you would call a hot spring since the water is freezing, like the river," Shizune smirked.  
Ranma smirked, "That's because I'm not finished,"  
He placed a hand in the water. After a few seconds, steam could be seen rising from the crater as the water heated up virtually instantly.  
"No way!" Naruto said, getting up to approach the crater. He had still been eating his dinner when Ranma started this tiny project of his and wanted to see for himself.  
Naruto crouched down and placed a hand in the water. "Wow, the water's hot!" Naruto gasped, "How'd you do that?"  
Ranma held a glowing hand forward for Naruto to see. It looked as if his hand was on fire but the fire was blue. It looked very much like the way steam. That seemed to answer Naruto's question. He was able to use his ki to heat up water.  
"W-what are you doing?" Shizune said as she noticed Ranma undressing himself. His back had been toward her so all she could see was that well-defined and muscular back of his.  
"I'm gonna take a dip," Ranma said, turning to face her, revealing an equally well-defined and muscular front.  
"I'm eating here," Shizune said, the first thing coming to her mouth.  
Ranma shrugged, "So?"  
"I don't need to see you naked!" she said, trying not to stare at Ranma's body.  
"Then don't," Ranma said, "Just turn around or look the other direction. I'm gonna go take a dip whether you like it or not,"  
"Cannonball!" came Naruto's voice as the young boy jumped into the crater.  
Ranma turned around and was splashed soaking wet as hot water splashed all over him from Naruto's cannonball jump into the crater. "Thanks a lot," Ranma said wryly toward the young boy as he gave Ranma a sheepish smile.  
"Sorry," Naruto said.  
Naruto's clothes and vest could be seen resting neatly just off to the side of the crater. Oddly enough, they were dry despite the violent splash. Ranma proceeded to take off the rest of his clothes. Shizune found herself seeing Ranma stark naked from behind for only a second before he hopped down and into the crater. "You wanna join us?" Ranma asked.  
"What? Of course not!" she said quickly.  
"Strange, I recall you mentioning how nice a dip in a hot spring would feel right about now," Ranma smiled.  
She said nothing.  
"There's plenty of room," Ranma said, "There's nothing to be ashamed about,"  
"I don't think so," Shizune said in annoyance. Ranma shrugged.  
"Okay. It was just a suggestion," Ranma climbed out of the crater around a half-hour after Naruto had gotten out and gone to sleep. Shizune made sure he back was to him to give him some privacy she he could get dressed. The moment Ranma got out, he suddenly felt the world starting to spin around him. His body felt weak as if reluctant to move in the way he wanted it to move. "Damn, I forgot," Ranma said to himself as he fell down to the ground and onto his stomach.  
The sound surprised Shizune as she quickly turned around to see what the commotion was. When she saw Ranma laying unconscious on the ground naked, she quickly turned her gaze away. When she realized that Ranma seemed like he was in some kind of trouble, she steeled herself and rushed over to where he was, kneeling over him.  
"Are you okay?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice, ignoring Ranma's naked body.  
"Ugh," he muttered incoherently, "I forgot..."  
"Forgot about what?" she asked, touching a hand to Ranma's back, "Oh God, you're burning up. You're suffering from heat stroke. You've been in the hot water for too long,"  
"I forgot I'm in a human body," Ranma muttered, rolling around onto his stomach, "Stuff like this messes me up,"  
"What? Human body?" she asked.  
Ranma said weakly, "Can you fetch me a cold wet cloth?"  
"Of course," she quickly headed over to the river.  
She felt angry at herself for not having noticed how much time had elapsed. Ranma and she had indulged in conversation and time flew. She should had been keeping a better track of time. Ranma shouldn'tve been in there for as long as he had been.  
Looking down at the river, she realized she needed a cloth to soak. She ripped off a small portion of the sleeve of her outfit and soaked it in the river and quickly headed over to Ranma. Ranma was now clad in his boxers, having figured he should do so to save her some embarrassment.  
Shizune looked a bit relieved when she noticed this but said nothing. She placed the damp cloth on Ranma's forehead, taking care not to stare at Ranma's well-defined naked torso.  
"I can't believe you let yourself get heat stroke," Shizune stated, "I figure you would know better,"  
"Thanks, that's just what I need now, someone telling me how stupid is am," Ranma said weakly but smirking all the while.  
"Serves you right," she said with a knowing smirk.  
"I'm sorry you had to rip a part of you sleeve to use as a cloth," Ranma said, "In the next town we come across, I'll buy you a shirt to replace it,"  
There was a moment of awkward silence as Ranma just lay on the ground as Shizune gently patted his forehead with the damp cloth. "What did you mean by you forgot you were in a human body?" she asked curiously.  
"It's a long story, not something I care to really get into detail about," Ranma said, looking up at the sky.  
Shizune said, "So I guess you're not going to tell me?"  
"What, you really wanna know about me?" he asked.  
"Kind of," she said.  
Ranma was silent for a moment, wondering how he should begin his story.  
"Well, it started out when I lost my friends and family in this thing called the Nerima Massacre,"  
Shizune sat in the man-made hot spring as Ranma told his story.  
Because Ranma was basically on his back the whole time, Shizune felt she didn't have to worry about Ranma trying to peep on her and decided to take a dip. The water in the crater was no longer hot and was warm so she was in no danger of suffering from a heat stroke like Ranma had.  
Over the course of the past hour, Ranma had gone about explaining exactly who he was while she listened intently. She didn't really believe a word he said but he didn't care.  
"That story is incredible," she said, "You used to be God?"  
"I know, it's hard to believe," he said, "But it's all right. I'm used to people not believing me or thinking I'm a crazy person,"  
Shizune asked, "Is that one of the reasons why you don't reveal all that much to yourself?"  
"Yeah, they all react the same way," Ranma stated.  
Shizune smirked, "So might that be a good reason why Naruto's growing so much, because he's being trained by a former God?"  
"Nah, he's growing on his own," Ranma answered, "He's got a talent for it. Also, the fact that I know things no human knows also helps,"  
"Is that the reason why you're so, well, overpoweringly strong?" she asked.  
Ranma chuckled, "I don't think that that's the case. If you think I'm strong, you're sadly mistaken. I have a friend named Ryoga that's probably gonna kick my ass when I get back since I've lost a lot of my Godly-traits like infinite invulnerability and infinite strength,"  
"Hearing what you talk about and what you've seen and fought against really puts things in perspective," Shizune said, "I've thought some of the people I've met and come across, people like Tsunade and Jiraiya and even Orochimaru, are some of the world's most powerful people. But relatively speaking, they kind of pale in comparison, especially against this Ryoga person you mention about,"  
Ranma shook his head, "Oh no, don't get me wrong. They're really strong, probably some of the strongest there is on this world. However, compared to Ryoga, I think the only person that can go against him is Skuld simply because she's God. Ryoga's the strongest person I know and is basically a monster. He went through adventures very similar to my own. Where I die and get resurrected as an Angel, he dies and gets resurrected in that world's 'Heaven' and undergoes this odd 'Mystic Training' as he calls it and a whole buncha other stuff. Oddly enough, Ryoga knows people even stronger than him so in the overall scope of things, neither I nor Ryoga are all that powerful in the overall scope of things,"  
Shizune gulped. The thought of beings powerful enough to destroy worlds was rather intimidating.  
"When you look at the big picture, Ryoga and I're about average in terms of power," Ranma said, "It's kinda like that 'Big fish in a little pond' kinda thing. I'm just a big fish in this little pond. That's all,"  
Shizune asked, "I'd like to visit your world one day,"  
"So, what's your story?" Ranma changed the subject for no reason, "Since you know my life, what kinda past do you have, provided you have no problems talking about it,"  
Shizune blushed, "Well, compared to your past, my past pales in comparison,"  
Ranma smirked, "I guess you have a point,"  
Shizune looked up at the sky and sighed, wondering where to begin.  
"Well, I lost both my parents when I was a little girl," she said, not all that saddened to bring back old memories, "They both died on a mission,"  
"I'm sorry to hear that," he said.  
Shizune smiled, "It's okay. I'm sad that they're gone but they were happy dying for what they believed in,"  
"Have any siblings?" he asked.

"No," she said, "No siblings. I'm alone,"  
"Well, if it makes you feel any, I know where you're coming from," he said, "I have no one surviving me. I no longer have parents no siblings,"  
That did seem to make her feel better for some odd reason. Afterall, misery loved company.  
Ranma asked, "I guess Tsunade's your only family, huh?"  
"More or less," Shizune shrugged, "I don't think I'll be with her long anymore now that she's Hokage and very busy,"  
"Oh?" Ranma asked.  
Shizune said, "She was basically my sensei and a very good friend of mine. Now that she's Hokage and too busy to train me like back then, I'm basically on my own with my training. I either find myself a new sensei or continue to train on my own,"  
"What, you want me to train you?" Ranma asked.  
"No, I'm not interested," she said, "I'll do fine on my own. I've been training under Tsunade's tutelage for so long that I want to train on my own. In case you haven't noticed, I'm actually a very skilled Jounin,"  
"Ah, that's good to hear," Ranma smiled.  
"Hey, have you seen Ton-Ton?" she asked from out of the blue.  
"Yeah, Ton-Ton went to sleep," Ranma said, "I saw Naruto playing some fetch with Ton-Ton for a bit before they both seemed to've decided enough was enough and went to sleep," "Okay," Shizune said.  
"And speaking of which, it's getting late," Ranma said, "We should call it a night. Also, judging from the dark clouds above, it's probably gonna start raining in a short while so you better hurry up,"  
"I guess you're right," she said, looking up toward the sky, "Hm, it does look like it's going to rain,"  
Ranma decided that he was feeling better now and decided to sit upright. As he did, he heard a loud splash as Shizune suddenly became very self aware of herself and that she was naked in the crater right next to Ranma.  
"Ranma!" she shouted, covering her chest with her arms as she ducked down in the crater to her collar bone.  
"Relax," Ranma said, "I'm feeling better now and I'm gonna go to sleep now. I need to get up to go to my tent, don't I? And frankly, I dunno what the heck you're so ashamed of. You've got a nice body and shouldn't be ashamed of it,"  
Shizune blushed a deep shade of red, "I do not!"  
"Um, okay, if y'say so," Ranma said, "I'm not gonna bother arguing. I already said what I thought and it's up to you whether or not y'wanna believe me. Anyway, I'm off to sleep. Goodnight,"  
Shizune didn't bother saying goodnight to him, angry at him for having seen her naked. She felt a combination of embarrassment from Ranma having seen her naked and that flattering comment of his.  
She watched as Ranma walked over to his tent and climbed in.  
As she sat in the lukewarm water of the crater, she looked down at herself.  
Ranma thinks I have a nice body, she thought. I'm no where near as well-  
endowed as Tsunade. I'm not flat-chested or such, but compared to her, I might as well be. But then again, could Ranma really think she have a nice body? He didn't seem like the kind of person that would throw out compliments just for the heck of it.  
She sighed, figuring she was taking Ranma's compliment more than what it really was.  
Climbing out of the crater, she walked over to where her clothes neatly lay. She picked up her panties and was about to put them on when she heard Ranma's voice.  
"We're going to sleep together," he said from behind her.  
"Eek!" Shizune shouted as she quickly jumped back into the crater to cover herself up to her collarbones again, "Pervert!"  
Ranma regarded her. He found her reaction to him rather amusing. He jerked a thumb toward the tent behind him, "We're going to sleep together,"  
"What?" she gasped, momentarily forgetting her anger.  
"We're gonna sleep together," Ranma said.  
"What? Why?" Shizune said, "What kind of woman do you take me for? I'm not going to have sex with you just because you see me naked and think I have a nice body!"  
"Huh?" Ranma asked. He quickly gathered his bearing, "Before misunderstand what I mean by that, which it seems like you already have, let me explain. Ton-  
Ton and Naruto are dead asleep together in one tent,"  
"So, wake Ton-Ton up!" Shizune said, "Ton-Ton and I area supposed to share a tent together, not Ton-Ton and Naruto!"  
Ranma said, "Nah,"  
"What?" she said, "Why not?"  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward the tent, "Take a look and you'll see for yourself. They seem rather peaceful sleeping together and I didn't wanna disturb 'em,"  
"Fine, I'll do it," Shizune said, proceeding to get out of the water. When she noticed she was still naked and Ranma was watching her with a rather licentious smirk, she quickly ducked back into the water.  
"I saw everything," Ranma grinned.  
"Ranma!" she shouted.  
Ranma turned around and started walking toward the tent, "Anyway, I'm off to sleep. If you wanna wake up Naruto or Ton-Ton, go ahead. It's your call. I'm gonna sleep in the other tent. Goodnight,"  
Shizune watched as Ranma disappeared into the tent she and Ton-Ton were supposed to share. She waited a good five minutes before she believed it was safe to come out.  
It wasn't until she heard the sounds of thunder looming in the distance did she realize she should have gotten out of the water a good five minutes ago or risk becoming soaking wet before she could get dressed and into her tent.  
Once dressed, she quickly rushed over to Naruto's and Ton-Ton's tent. Since Ranma would most likely give her a hassle about moving out of his current tent now, she should wake up Naruto and tell him to go sleep in Ranma's tent. Peeking into the tent, Shizune couldn't help but feel a warm feeling in her heart as she saw Naruto and Ton-Ton sleeping soundly. Naruto was sleeping on his back, taking up most of the room while Ton-Ton slept happily right next to him, the pig's head resting on Naruto's stomach like a pillow.  
Shizune couldn't help but feel angry toward Ranma for making her be the one to wake Naruto from such a peaceful slumber. She climbed into the tent, knelt down over Naruto, giving him a gentle nudge.  
"Naruto," she said softly, "Wake up,"  
Naruto didn't even stir, continuing to sleep soundly.  
Shizune's lips became a thin line. Naruto looked so peaceful sleeping with Ton-Ton. Ton-Ton looked to be sleeping every bit as peacefully as the young boy.  
The sounds of rain could now be heard as rain fell down and struck the tent. She glanced out the front of the tent and noticed it was pouring out.  
Looking at them, she realized she really couldn't bring herself to wake Naruto up. If she did, he would have to go out into the pouring rain to get to the other tent, all because she was uncomfortable with the mere thought of having to share a tent with Ranma. Also, if she thought about it, Naruto had had a very hard day, training very hard, much harder than any of them and that he needed his sleep.  
"Sleep tight," she said before she quickly exited to tent and out into the pouring rain.  
She quickly rushed over to the other tent, becoming drenched in the process, and hopped into the tent. Inside, she saw Ranma busily climbing into his sleeping bag.  
He looked up at her and smirked, "Well, look who we've got here. It seems like you didn't make it in outta the rain in time. You're soaking wet,"  
"It's your fault," she said in annoyance.  
"My fault?" Ranma pointed to himself, "How's it my fault?"  
"You're supposed to sleep in the other tent with Naruto!" she said angrily.  
"I changed my mind," Ranma smiled, "Also, it seems like we have a problem. C'mere,"  
"What? Why?" she asked.  
"Just come here," he said, "You're soaking wet. I'm going to use my ki to dry you clothes up,"  
"You can do that?" she asked.  
Ranma said, "Duh. If I can't do it, why would I go on pretending like I can? Wouldn't it seem rather embarrassing if I claim that I can do it and then prove to you that I can't when I try?"  
Shizune narrowed her eyes toward him. She then asked, "Okay, what should I do,"  
"Just sit down in front of me," he said.  
Shizune seemed reluctant at first but did as she was told. Sitting down in front of him, facing him. She almost gasped as Ranma reached out, as if to grab her chest, only to stop when his hands were just inches away.  
He eyes widened as she felt her body started to heat up, as if she was developing a fever. What she couldn't really understand was if it was Ranma that was making her feeling hot or her closeness to Ranma was making her heating up.  
"Done," Ranma said, smiling at her after a second.  
"Done? With what?" she asked.  
"Touch your clothes," he said.  
Shizune touched her clothes and noticed they were dry, warm actually, "What the? Did you do that?"  
"Yeah," Ranma smiled, "I used my ki to dry them up for you,"  
"How'd you do that?" she asked.  
"Nothing special," Ranma shrugged, "I simply used my ki to evaporate the water on your clothes. That's all,"  
"Um, thanks," was all she could think of saying.  
"Not problem," he smiled, "Now that you're dry, you don't have to worry about sleeping in wet clothes and risk getting a cold,"  
All she could do was smile. That was rather considerate of Ranma.  
Ranma reached back to grab the backpack and pull out a sleeping bag but after a moment, he realized something. He climbed out of his sleeping bag and gave it to Shizune.  
"Why are you giving me your sleeping bag?" she asked.  
This tent only has one sleeping bag. Since this tent was originally meant for you and Ton-Ton and Ton-Ton doesn't need a sleeping bag, this one's yours.  
"Where's yours?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward the side of the tent, "My sleeping bag's in the other tent. I saw Naruto and Ton-Ton using both sleeping bags. And besides, if I go out and get the sleeping bag from there and to here, it's gonna get soaked in the pouring rain so it's moot," Shizune smirked, "Well, it serves you right. You should be in the other tent anyway,"  
Ranma shrugged, "I don't care,"  
She watched as Ranma laid down on the ground his hands behind his head.  
"You're just gonna sleep like that?" she asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said.  
Shizune's lips became a thin line. The nights get cold and it would be very hard sleeping like that. There was a rather maternal instinct to Shizune and the thought of Ranma having to suffer through that didn't sit all that well with her, even if Ranma was a bit of a jerk and she didn't care all that much about him.  
She sighed, "We can share my sleeping bag,"  
"Huh?" he asked.  
"We can share the sleeping bag," she said, "As disgusting as it sounds, I'm not such a monster that I would let you sleep without a sleeping bag. It's going to get really cold at night,"  
"You sure?" Ranma asked.  
"Yes, reluctantly," she sighed.  
Ranma smiled warmly, "Thanks,"  
"No funny business," Shizune narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm going to keep a dagger nearby. If you try and do anything funny, don't think I would hesitate to jam it into your leg or such,"  
Ranma smiled warmly.  
"Of course,"

Shizune had slept soundly that night that.  
She was used to never really ever falling deeply asleep due to the fact that falling that deeply into sleep meant she was leaving herself vulnerable to being attack, something that was not allowed. Afterall, what kind of ninja was she to allow herself to be so open as to be killed in her sleep? However, tonight, slumber was much different from her than ever before. For the first time in her life since she had chosen the way of the ninja, she had slept with complete abandon, sleeping with the sensation of complete and utter safety. While she had had a lot of trouble initially falling asleep, what with her constant knowledge that Ranma was sleeping right next to her, that he was so close to her that he could ever feel his body feet, she eventually started feeling safe. It was as if knowledge of him being that close to her made her feel safe.  
Shizune woke naturally, feeling like she had slept like she had never slept before. Waking up was actually weird because she had slept so deeply she had momentarily forgotten where she was when she woke up.  
When she opened up here eyes, she found herself looking at the side of Ranma's face as he lay on his back sleeping. It seemed like sometime during the night, while Ranma slept on his back and never moving from that position once, Shizune had somehow twisted around in her sleep and eventually snuggled up against him.  
Unfortunately for Ranma, Shizune didn't see it that way when she woke up. All she saw was a man sleeping right next to her, a man she didn't initially recognize.  
Shizune didn't recognize Ranma initially and reacted much like how any other woman would in her situation.  
"Eeeeeeeekkkkkkk!"

new stuff 3/9

Naruto snapped wide awake when he heard Shizune's scream, accidentally waking up Ton-Ton in the process when he snapped awake with a jolt.  
It took a few seconds for Naruto to figure out where he was, that he was in a tent with Ton-Ton. When he did, he looked down at the pig that was regarding him. "What the heck was that?" Naruto asked Ton-Ton,  
Ton-Ton simply snorted as it headed out of the tent, Naruto following closely behind. Once outside, he glanced over toward the tent where he was sure where the shriek had emanated.  
Glance into the tent, he saw Ranma sleeping soundly on top of Shizune, his body pinning her to the ground. Somehow, when Shizune quickly got to her feet to attack the pervert that had somehow slipped into her sleeping bag late at night, the pervert had rolled over and ended up rolling over her, bringing her down to the ground and ending up on top of her.  
Shizune had a look of absolute mortification on her face as she found herself in such a predicament. Her assailant had somehow defeated her. She was under him and could do nothing to get him off, his body weight far to much for her to lift off her body. She was no Tsunade and didn't even possess a fraction of that woman's monstrous strength.  
Shizune looked glanced past Ranma's shoulders and up toward Naruto as the young boy was peeking into the tent. Recognition instantly dawned on her as she recognized the young boy.  
When she saw him, last night's events seemed to have dawned on her as well as she suddenly remembered having gone to sleep with Ranma in the same sleeping bag. If that was the case, then that meant the person on top of her was.  
"Ranma!" she said.  
She pushed Ranma's head up and noticed that it really was Ranma. And to her surprise, he looked like he was still asleep. "Oh my god!" Naruto gasped as he saw Ranma on top of Shizune, "That's disgusting! You're...you guys were doing...THAT! You guys are perverts!"  
"Wait!" Shizune shouted toward Naruto as the young boy quickly exited the tent. She noticed Ton-Ton had a rather amused look on its face before it quickly disappeared from the tent.  
"Get off of me!" she shouted, arching her back, hopping it would be good enough to lift his body up just slightly so she could shove him toward the side and off of him. Unfortunately, when she did, she felt Ranma's man hood pressed against her private area since he was lying right between her legs in a missionary position.  
Ranma stirred slightly.  
"Wake up, you fool!" she shouted at him. After a moment Ranma slowed opened his eyes. He found himself regarding Shizune's face, their faces just inches from one another. It took a moment for Ranma to recognize Shizune. When he did and realized that she was under him and that they were in a missionary position, his eyes widened in shock.  
The first words that escaped his mouth was a scream of surprise.  
"Aaaaaahhhhh!"  
"Naruto, what you saw was all a misunderstanding," Shizune tried to plead her case, "We weren't doing what adults do,"  
"I'm not stupid," Naruto said, "I know a bit about it and how it works. When a boy and a girl are sharing a bed together, or in this case, a sleeping bag, it usually means one thing,"  
The group was heading North once again. Naruto was carrying the heavy load that was the camping equipment while wearing a vest. They were hungry and had wanted to see if there was a village not to far North where they could stop and get some breakfast.  
"Say something, Ranma!" Shizune said to Ranma, "Tell him it's all a misunderstanding,"  
"She took advantage of me last night," Ranma said.  
"What? I did not!" Shizune shouted defensively.  
Ranma started laughing which indicated to Naruto that he had been joking around.  
"Don't worry, I'm only messing around," Ranma said, grinning as he nudged at the young boy with an elbow, "And besides, considering she and I are adults, what we do is our business, if y'know what I mean,"  
"Ranma!" Shizune shouted.

Ranma and the others came upon a town.  
Having been walking all day and it was already nearing midnight.  
"It's so late out," Naruto said, looking up at the dark sky, "It'll be kinda hard sparring now, now that it's really dark out,"  
Ranma gave Naruto an odd look, "What, you're expecting to be doing some sparring now?"  
"Aren't we gonna train?" Naruto asked.  
"There's no need," Ranma said, "We've been walking all day. That's basically your training,"  
"How's that training?" Naruto asked, "All I did was walk. I can walk all day if I wanted to,"  
"Yeah, you can," Ranma said, "But this is while wearing that weighted vest of yours. Doing so helps build up endurance and such. Training doesn't hafta be all about building up your fighting skills. There's much more to it. What's the use of having good fighting skills if your body can't keep up with what you know?"  
"Oh," Naruto said.  
Shizune smiled, admiring how good a teacher Ranma was. He was an exceptional sensei, perfect for Naruto.  
"Tonight, we go have some fun," Ranma grinned, "You've been training constantly for so long that a time for relaxation should be in tall order around now,"  
"Fun? What kind of fun?" Shizune asked curiously.  
Ranma said, "Don't worry about it. Some guy stuff," "What stuff?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma grinned as he removed his backpack and unzipped it and reached in. He pulled out a handful of sheets of paper with Kanji on them.  
"Whoa, those are explosive wards!" Naruto's eyes widened.  
"I bought 'em back at town when we passed through," Ranma grinned.  
Naruto asked, "What do you intend to do with them?"  
"What else? We're going to blow random stuff up," Ranma smiled happily, "These things are the equivalent to fireworks on my world. What better way to use such things than to blow stuff up,"  
Shizune interrupted, "Those explosive wards are meant for setting traps and to be used for of self-defense. They're not to be used for reckless actions like blowing stuff up,"  
Ranma said, "So? Just because they're meant for one thing or another, that doesn't mean you can't improvise and use them for other things,"  
"What do you intend to do?" she asked.  
"Blow stuff up," Ranma said matter-of-factly, "Y'know, stuff like trees and boulders and such,"  
"But why?" Shizune didn't understand.  
"For shits and giggles," Ranma answered.  
"For what?" she was confused.  
"Forget it, it's just an expression," he waved a hand, "Anyway, it's a guy thing. You wouldn't understand,"  
"Obviously," she said.  
Ranma turned toward Naruto, "Of course, we need to find ourselves a hotel and get rooms for the night. After that's done and over with, then we can go have some fun,"  
Ranma and Naruto and Shizune ate at a restaurant. Ton-Ton could be found happily eating its meal as well. It was very late at night and there were very few patrons at restaurant.  
"Are we really going to go blow stuff up after we're done eating?" Naruto asked eagerly, "You're not pulling my leg, are you?"  
Ranma smiled, "Yeah, after we're done eating. It'll be fun,"  
"I think it's a bad idea," Shizune said, wanting to give them her input, "I want no part in it,"  
Ranma said, "That's fine. You were never gonna be a part of it in the beginning anyway,"  
"What?" she asked.  
"It's a guy thing," Ranma said, "Having a chick around would ruin things. Afterall, having a voice of reason, that being a chick, around makes doing stupid random stuff like that no fun,"  
Shizune said, "You make no sense. Heck, it still doesn't make sense why you want to go blowing up random stuff anyway?"  
"Because it's fun," Ranma answered.  
"How is seeing trees and such getting blown up for no apparent reason 'fun', as you put it? How?" she asked, "It makes no sense,"  
Ranma said, "It doesn't hafta make sense. It's just fun. Any guy would consider blowing anything up fun. Girls, on the other hand, would not. They probably see it as stupid way of wasting time and resources,"  
Naruto said, "You two argue like a couple,"  
Shizune blushed as Ranma simply snickered, "Us, a couple?"  
"It seems so," Naruto stated innocently, "You two act like some kinda married couple,"  
"N-Naruto," Shizune said, still blushing.  
Ranma laughed, finding the comment amusing.  
The outskirt of the village was nothing but forest, a perfect backdrop for what Naruto and Ranma planned to do. The two of them were a good mile and a half beyond the village, believing that more than enough distance from the village so that no one would be bothered by their wanton destruction of forestation.  
Ton-Ton and Shizune were not with them, both back at the hotel. Shizune had no interest in what Naruto and Ranma planned on doing and wanted nothing to do with it.  
Ranma and Naruto slowly made their way through the forest, Naruto carrying to backpack containing the explosive wards.  
"Heh, if Green Peace found out what we're about to do, they'd be all up in arms," Ranma chuckled, "I'm sure they won't appreciate it seeing precious trees getting blown up purely for amusement,"  
"Green Peace?" Naruto asked.  
"An organization from my world," Ranma said.  
"Is your world vastly different from this world?" Naruto asked, "You mention about a lot of stuff from your world that don't seem to exist on this world,"  
Ranma nodded, "There are a lot of things on my world that don't exist on this world and vice-versa,"  
"Oh," Naruto said.  
Ranma stopped as they made it out to a clearing, "This looks like a good place to start blowing stuff up,"  
Naruto smiled at Ranma, "Man, you're nothing like other adults,"  
"Heh," Ranma simply smiled, "That's because being an adult sucks,"  
Naruto laughed at the comment.  
Ranma reached into the backpack and pulled out an explosive ward, "All right, let's see how these things work,"  
"Wait, you have no idea how they really work but you bought them anyway?" Naruto asked, surprised at what he heard.  
"No idea," Ranma gave a meek smile, scratching the back of his head.  
Naruto took a hold of the explosive ward. It looked nothing more than a small piece of paper with a Chinese character on it. There was a string attached to it from the bottom.  
"These explosive wards are filled with chakra," Naruto said, gesturing toward the small string sticking out of it, "There are two ways to set it off, to light the fuse or actually pull it. When you pull the string out, you have around three seconds until it explodes. When you burn it, you have around ten seconds. In order to burn it, you simply need to put a bit of chakra into the string to get it to start burning as well as pull it out. Even though it looks like a piece of string, it isn't,"  
"Ah," Ranma said, "I understand. Let's have some fun,"  
Without warning, Ranma took one of the explosive wards and pulled the string. "W-what are you doing?" Naruto shouted. To Naruto's surprise, Ranma flicked his hand and sent the piece of paper flying through the air like a bullet where it became embedded into a nearby tree a short distance away.  
A massive explosion erupted as the tree exploded, toppling over and crashing to the ground.  
"Wow, those things are powerful," Ranma smirked.  
"I-I can't believe you did that," Naruto said, his voice nervous.  
"Whatcha mean?" Ranma asked.  
Naruto picked up another piece of paper and held it in front of him. It fluttered gently in the wind, "An explosive ward is basically a piece of paper. It's very hard to throw a piece of paper and get it to go where you want it to go. You're supposed to attach it to a shuriken and throw the shuriken,"  
Ranma said, "That sounds unnecessary, attaching it to a shuriken. Heck, if you think about it, you'll end up losing a shuriken that way. It's easier to throw the explosive ward without having it attached to anything,"  
"But it's a piece of paper," Naruto said, "I have no idea how I'm supposed to throw a piece of paper like it's some kind of throwing star. I know that you're supposed to someone put chakra into it to make it solid like a rock, but I have no idea how to do so and was never taught how to do so,"  
"Ah, I understand," Ranma said, "That's no problem. I'll teach you. You don't need to use ki. All you need to do is learn how to flick your wrist correctly,"  
He took an explosive ward out of the backpack and handed it to Naruto, taking care to take one for himself as well.  
"You can't throw paper like you would throw a rock or a ninja star or shuriken or such," Ranma said, flicking his wrist, "You need to flick you wrist like this,"  
Naruto went about emulating Ranma's wrist motion. "That's correct," Ranma said, "Now give it a try. Of course, don't pull the string until after you're comfortable with throwing it correctly,"  
Naruto tried to throw the explosive ward. Unfortunately, the piece of paper flew a few inches before it fluttered to the ground and landed right by his feet.  
"Heh, you got the idea," Ranma chuckled, "You're trying to throw it too hard. Throwing paper requires no strength whatsoever. It's all in the wrist,"  
"Okay," Naruto said.  
Naruto tried it again. To his surprise, the piece of paper flew around ten feet before it flew in a different direction.  
"All you need is practice," Ranma smiled, "You'll get the hang of it in no time. You pick things up quickly,"  
"Wow, I didn't realize how easy it was," Naruto said, "I'm aware that you're supposed to use chakra to direct the paper where you want it to go, but to actually throw it like a shuriken, I never knew that was possible,"  
Ranma said, "Well, you can use ki if you want, but it's unnecessary. You're just giving yourself extra work. That's all. You know what's the best way to learn?"  
"How?" Naruto asked.  
"Force yourself," Ranma grinned. "Without warning, Ranma reached out and pulled off the string on the explosive ward in Naruto's hands. He figured that was the best way to get Naruto to learn, by putting him in a situation where he needed to use what he had learned. Being in mortal danger usually brought the best out in anyone.  
"Ahhhhh!" Naruto shouted in terror as he realized what Ranma had done.  
Naruto, in a fit of panic, tried to throw the explosive ward away. Unfortunately for him, he completely forgot about the quick training Ranma had given him on how to properly flick one's wrist when throwing paper. Naruto ended up accidentally throwing the paper where it fluttered around and ended up landing in the backpack.  
"Oh shit!" Ranma's eyes widened. "Ahhhh!" Naruto shouted, "It's going to explode!"  
"Run!" Ranma shouted as he grabbed Naruto and made a break for it away from the backpack.  
Meanwhile, back at hotel, Shizune sat by the windowsill, gazing out toward the outskirts of the village. By the foot of her bed was Ton-Ton. She and Ton-Ton were in had their own hotel rooms, separate from Ranma's and Naruto's.  
"I wonder what the heck Ranma and Naruto are up to now?" Shizune asked, petting at Ton-Ton, "I don't understand it's not like I want to be there with them. Their idea of 'fun' sounds idiot. It'll probably cause nothing but trouble anyway,"  
A sudden flash of light entered the hotel room via the window, causing Shizune to shield her eyes.  
"What the?" she asked.  
When the light disappeared, she glanced out the window and was shocked at what she saw. On the outskirts of the village was a gigantic mushroom-like cloud rising up into the air. It looked very much like a miniature nuclear bomb had just been detonated. "Oh my God! What the heck did Ranma and Naruto just do?" she gasped.  
She turned her gaze away from the slowly dissipating mushroom-like cloud and toward these two shadowy figures that could be seen heading in the direction of the explosion, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Even thought it was dark out, the moonlight being cast gave her a good enough view of those two figures before they disappeared into the night.  
"T-That was Itachi and Kisame!"

new stuff 3/11

Ranma brushed the debris from his clothes as he got up to his feet. "Are you okay?" Ranma asked Naruto as the young boy got to his feet as well.  
"Yeah, I-I think," Naruto said, checking himself out, "How about you?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ranma said.  
Luckily for Ranma and Naruto, Ranma had reacted to the situation quickly enough to run away and carry Naruto with him that neither of them got hurt in the explosion.  
Just as the explosion had occurred, Ranma had jumped into a ditch he had come across. Luckily for him and Naruto, the ditch had been deep enough that the wall of flames had basically sailed right above them.  
"Wow, that was awesome!" Ranma said, a big grin on his face, "That was like a mini-nuclear explosion!"  
"Jeez, that was nuts!" Naruto shouted, his ears ringing as he climbed out of the ditch. "Man, look at all that damage," Ranma said.  
Naruto's jaw dropped when he noticed a massive chunk of the forest completely gone. A section of the forest around two hundred feet in diameter was gone, not a single tree in sight.  
"This little incident was definitely unexpected, that's for sure," Ranma whistled, "Man, I can't believe how much damage those explosive wards can make. It's like a mini Seppukku ki-blast,"  
"Why'd you go an pull the string like that?" Naruto asked.  
"I figured you were gonna flick the ward away like I had taught you," Ranma said, "I didn't expect you to go flicking it right into the backpack,"  
Naruto asked, "You expected me to be able to flick it away after you showed me how after five minutes? That's crazy!"  
"I guess I jumped the gun," Ranma shrugged, "I guess I should've waited for you to practice it a bit more before I basically kicked you overboard to force to you learn to swim,"  
"What are we going to do?" Naruto said in a concerned voice.  
"Nothing," Ranma said, "What's done is done. I ain't got no God-powers so it's not like I can fix everything up good as new,"  
Naruto looked at the destruction, feeling a great sense of guilt, "I didn't expect things to turn out like this,"  
"Look, no one was hurt," Ranma smiled slightly, "That's what really matters,"  
"Still," Naruto said.  
"Yeah, you've got a point," Ranma said, "The amount of damage you accidentally caused is a bit on the excessive side,"  
"Me? Don't go casting blame on me! You're the one that caused this!" Naruto said, pointing, "You're the one that set that explosive ward to explode!"  
Ranma said, "Yeah, but you're the one that threw it into the stockpile of other explosive wards. If you think about it, we're probably both at fault here,"  
"No, you're more at fault than I am, that's for sure," Naruto added.  
"Man, that was a wicked explosion, wasn't it?" Ranma chuckled.  
Naruto said, "Don't go changing the subject,"  
"Man, if I wanted people to nag me about what I do or did, I would've brought Shizune along," Ranma made a yapping motion with one of his hands, "What's done is done. Get over with,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Man, those explosive wards and powerful little buggers," Ranma commented, "I can't believe they pack so much punch. I wonder how much damage would've been caused had we had several backpacks full of 'em instead of just one,"  
"What, you intend to find out?" Naruto asked curiously.  
Ranma shook his head, "No, I think we did enough wanton damage already. There's no need to do more,"  
"Well, at least I'm glad no one was around to get hurt," Naruto said, "I guess it really was a good idea to have come this far out from the village,"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I figure something like this might happen and wanted to make sure,"  
"Wait, you planned all of this?" Naruto shouted, "You knew I was gonna panic and throw the explosive ward into the backpack by accident like that?"  
"No," Ranma held his hands up, "I just thought about the worst case scenario. The worst possible scenario was that all of the explosive wards exploded at the same time. I guessed at how much damage would've been caused should their explosive powers grow exponentially had the exploded simultaneously. Lo and behold, it seems like I over estimated it and figured it would cause about a mile would of damages when it only caused a couple hundred feet,"  
"If you expected something like that to happen, and believed that it would've caused enough damage to wipe out a mile of the forest, what makes you think we would've escaped in time had it actually been that powerful?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma scratched his head, "I dunno. I didn't think that far ahead. I guess we're lucky that that didn't happen,"  
From out of the shadows emerged two shadowy figures.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" came a voice.  
Ranma turned in the direction of the voice and was greeted with a ki-blast right to the chest. Caught completely by surprise, the ki-blast exploded, engulfing Ranma, sending him flying bodily through the air where he crashed through several trees before finally bouncing off and down to the ground, the wind knocked out of him.  
"W-what the hell was that?" Ranma said through clenched teeth, momentarily disoriented. His body felt like it was on fire. That ki-blast, wherever it had come from, had caused considerable bodily harm to Ranma.  
Damn, I think a few of my ribs are broken, Ranma thought, finding it rather hard to breath.  
"It seems you're a lot tougher than I thought," came a voice.  
Ranma looked in the direction of the voice. He noticed a young looking man stepping out from the shadows of the trees, slowly walking toward him. Ranma recognized that young man.  
"Itachi," he muttered under his breath.  
Where he hell did he come from, he thought. Oh man, was I so caught up with what had happened that it had completely slipped my mind that Itachi might've seen the explosion and had come to investigate? I'm such an idiot. I should've been on the lookout for them.  
Glancing past Itachi, Ranma saw Naruto lying unconscious on the ground nearby. It seemed like being within such close proximity to the explosion that had engulfed Ranma had sent the young boy flying through the air where he slammed against a tree and fell down on to the ground on his stomach, unconscious.  
Ranma caught sight of Kisame standing by Naruto, a foot gently resting on the young boy's back, as if to prevent Naruto from running away should he awaken. "It seems like you're not so tough a bodyguard as we first believed," Kisame said with a wry smile, picking up the unconscious Naruto by the back of his jacket, holding him in one hand like a rag doll.  
Ranma slowly got to his feet, staggering once as his legs threatened to buckle under his bodyweight. He glanced in the direction of Itachi as the young man extended a hand straight in his general direction.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Itachi said as a ki-blast was came rocketing from the young man's extended hand and straight toward Ranma, missing Ranma by inches as Ranma managed to jump out of the way just in time. The blast ended up striking a nearby tree, Ranma forced to duck for cover behind a tree or risk getting engulfed in the ensuing blast.  
Ranma winced in pain as he could feel bolt of pain shooting up and down his body, originating by his ribs. The pain wasn't excruciating but was painful enough to make him reluctant to do anything strenuous.  
Fuck, I definitely have cracked ribs, Ranma thought, rubbing at his side.  
"I must thank you," Itachi smirked, "Without your help, I wouldn't be able to project destructive spheres of chakra like I do now,"  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ranma muttered, getting back up to his feet again, clutching at a side.  
"With my Sharingan ability, I have the ability to analyze and acquire and master any technique by merely seeing the technique in use," Itachi said, "And I have you to thank for it. Not only do I now know how to shoot that 'Mouko Takabisha' blast you seem to favor, but I also know of your Bakusai Tenketsu Revised and Hiryu Shoten Ha techniques as well,"  
Ranma said nothing as he hid behind a tree. That was definitely going to become a problem. Even though Ranma knew how to fight against such techniques, the fact that he was badly hurt and had to fight against Itachi of all people meant he was at a serious disadvantage.

new stuff 3/19

"You've opened up a new world to me, and for that, I must thank you," Itachi said.  
"Blah blah blah," Ranma muttered as he got up to his feet to face Itachi, "Look, are we gonna fight? Let's just get this done and over with,"  
Itachi smirked. Ranma was definitely unlike any opponent he had ever faced. While Ranma was terribly powerful, Itachi knew that he had an advantage. The labored breathing indicated that Ranma was more hurt than he let on.  
"We don't need to fight," Itachi said, gesturing toward Kisame's direction, "I only want the boy. I have no care to fight against you if it isn't necessary,"  
"I don't think so," Ranma said, "I don't intend to let you just go kidnapping a friend of mine,"  
Itachi said, "Then so be it. While I am compelled to let you live because you let Kisame and I live, as a way of calling us even, that doesn't mean I won't hesitate to kill you-"  
Ranma extended a hand and shot a ki-blast in Itachi's general direction, destroying the tree right near him.  
Itachi sneered as he was forced to leap out of the way in mid-sentence as a ki-blast missed him by inches. His heart started racing as he felt the heat being generated from the ki-blast as it sailed right by him. "Ow!" Ranma sneered as he couched down on one knee as bolts of pain shot through his body. The act of shooting a ki-blast was putting a bit of strain on his body, a strain he wasn't supposed to be administering in his current condition.  
"Why do you need Naruto in the first place?" Ranma asked through gritting teeth.  
"That is none of your concern," Itachi said.  
"What, does Kisame not know of your plans?" Ranma smirked.  
"What's he talking about?" Kisame asked curiously.  
"Nothing," Itachi waved a dismissive hand, "He's hurt and is trying to play mind-games to sway this battle in his favor,"  
Ranma noticed the annoyance in Itachi's visage. It seemed like Kisame was unaware of Itachi's hidden agenda. He wished Itachi was close enough so he could look deep into the young man's eyes and know for sure what Itachi's hidden agenda was. He remembered taking a quick glance during his first encounter.  
He knew quite a bit about Itachi, but not everything. There were still some things to him that Ranma had yet to find out. For instance, he had no idea why Itachi killed his own parents or exactly what he really needed Naruto. Itachi was part of the Akatsuki organization and that organization wanted Naruto so they could harness the power of the Nine-Tails sealed within Naruto's body. However, Itachi had some kind of hidden agenda, that his involvement in Akatsuki meant nothing to him. "What do you need the power of the Nine-Tails for?" Ranma asked, "You can at least tell me that,"  
"I don't need to reveal anything to you," Itachi smirked.  
"Just kill him," Kisame said in annoyance. He looked down and noticed Naruto was slowly starting to stir as he held the young boy, "What the?"  
Kisame had a look of surprise on his face. He noticed that Naruto was slowly come back into consciousness. The boy had taken virtually as much damage as Ranma and had only been knocked out temporarily. While Ranma was clearly stronger than the young boy, able to remain standing after such an attack, Naruto's slow rise back into consciousness indicated an incredible resilience to the young boy.  
Ranma glanced in the direction of Naruto as he could be seen tucked unconsciously under Kisame's arm. He noticed how Kisame seemed to have trouble holding the young boy, surprised at how heavy he was.  
It seems like he doesn't realize Naruto is wearing a weighted vest, Ranma thought. I can use that to my advantage. The vest can act as a form of protection to Naruto. Of course, in doing so, Itachi will also learn from me once again if he uses that Sharingan ability of his to his advantage.  
"C'mon, let's see what you've got," Ranma taunted Itachi, "Let's just fight and get it over with,"  
Itachi smirked, eager to test out his newly acquired techniques. Ranma quickly turned in the direction Kisame, making a dash toward him, gritting his teeth all the while and fighting back the pain shooting up and down the side of his body.  
"Pathetic," Itachi smirked. He had anticipated that Ranma would go after Kisame. Afterall, since Ranma seemed genuinely worried about Naruto, it was clear as day that he would try and help Naruto out first before helping himself out.  
Itachi extended a hand in Ranma's direction and let loose a ki-blast, intent of having his ki-blast intercept Ranma's dash. The ki-blast rocketed from Itachi's hand, heading straight toward Ranma.  
"Thanks," Ranma smirked.  
With a quick swipe of the hand, Ranma deflected the ki-blast away, deflecting it straight toward Kisame and Naruto. The act had caught both Kisame and Itachi by complete surprise. Kisame, while expecting basically anything, had definitely not expected Ranma to do something like that, use Itachi's own technique to his advantage. The large man ended up getting hit right in the chest, the explosion engulfing both him and Kisame in the process, sending Kisame flying bodily backwards right into a nearby tree where he smashed right through it, dropping Naruto in the process.  
Kisame ended up smashing through the tree and tumbling on the ground several yards where he slammed against yet another tree and slumped down to the ground unconscious.  
Gripping at his side, Ranma quickly rushed over to where Naruto was as the young boy remained unconscious. Crouching down by Naruto, Ranma checked to see if the young boy was all right. Ranma smiled when he noticed that Ranma seemed generally unheard, perhaps a bit singed from the explosion. The weighted vest Naruto had been wearing had protected him pretty well. Had Naruto not been wearing one, defeating Kisame would not had been so easy.  
Knowing that Naruto would be in danger so long as he wasn't readily within Ranma's reach, Ranma gently picked Naruto up, tucking him under one arm, on the side where his ribs weren't badly hurt.  
Ranma stood up and turned his attention toward Itachi.  
"You surprise me," Itachi said, genuinely impressed, "To put the young boy at risk deflecting my projectile, that was something I wasn't expecting one bit. For a person who seems to be very concerned over Naruto's welfare, your actions belie your words,"  
"I've done a lotta things that surprise people," Ranma grinned, "If you know how I really fight, then you'd realize my doing something like this isn't all that far-fetched,"  
"I'll keep that in mind," Itachi said, "However, now that I've noticed how you're capable of deflecting my projectiles, I now have that same ability,"  
"I figure," Ranma shrugged, "It doesn't bother me none. I figure you'd learn how to deflect ki-blasts simply by watching me do so by using that Sharingan technique of yours. It's worth the gamble. Even though you now know the premise behind deflecting ki-blasts, that doesn't mean you have the balls to do so,"  
Itachi said nothing. While Ranma wasn't entirely right, Itachi did have some reservations about deflecting a ki-blast if need be. While the science behind deflecting such a blast is pretty simple, having the gall to do so was something he had reservations about.  
"You are like everyone else," Ranma said, "You are more likely to instinctively dodge an incoming projectile. It's a form or self-preservation. It's human nature to be scared of deflecting a ki-blast. Even though you know it, only actual experience gets you used to it. Like a riding a bike, knowing the premise on how to do something is very much different than actually doing it yourself,"  
"Che," Itachi sneered.  
Ranma extended a hand and shot a ki-blast in Itachi's general direction. Instinctively, Itachi jumped out of the way as the ki-blast missed him greatly. When he quickly rolled to his feet, he noticed the smirk on Ranma's face.  
"See?" Ranma grinned, "I wasn't even aiming for you but you dodged out of the way anyway. You're not so different from other opponents I've fought before,"  
Ranma was about to laugh but stopped when he noticed something. "What the? I can't move," was the first thing that crossed Ranma's mind.  
"It seems you have forgotten about my Shadow Bind Technique," Itachi smirked, walking toward Ranma as Ranma's body mirrored Itachi's movements exactly, "I masked my attack behind my dodging your projectile. Your reflexes are beyond anything I've ever seen. However, it seems like even you can be caught off-guard much like before. The fact that it is night out and we are among many trees of this forest, you can't see my shadow coming toward you since it is hidden among the other shadows,"  
Itachi made a motion with one of his arms, forcing Ranma to mirror the motions as well. The made Ranma end up chucking Naruto a forward where the young boy landed rather roughly by Itachi's feet.  
"It seems the tides of our battle has tipped in my favor now," Itachi said, still cautious of Ranma and what he was capable but feeling much safer due to the distance between him and Ranma.  
Ranma said nothing, feeling angry at himself. He couldn't believe he had allowed himself to get in such a situation. The fact that Itachi knew the Shadow Bind Technique had completely escaped Ranma's mind until now.  
"You do know, I can get out of this just as easily as before," Ranma said casually, "I've been in this situation with you before and this one is no different,"  
"Go ahead at shoot one of your chakra projectiles into the ground," Itachi smirked, "Now that I know of how you will try and escape my Shadow Bind Technique, I'll let you do it. You'll end up hurting yourself more than me. Actually, you'll only end up hurting yourself since I will now know what to expect. And given our distance from one another, you'll only get hurt,"  
Not wanting to hang around and find out the painful way of attacks or pain Itachi was capable inflicting via the Shadow Bind Technique, Ranma chose to shoot a ki-blast down in the ground. Once again, like before, Ranma was caught in the blast and the explosion sent him flying, breaking free of Itachi's Shadow Bind Technique.  
While Itachi didn't need to stop using his Shadow Bind Technique to dodge the explosion, the actual explosion itself had managed to send Ranma flying away from its hold over him.  
Unfortunately for Ranma, the act had probably caused him a good deal of damage. While not as powerful as taking a direct ki-blast to the chest, the proximity was good enough to leave kneeling down on one knee when the dust finally cleared out.  
Ranma's breathing labored, realizing he was in deep trouble. His entire body ached and his vision was blurring. He was nearing the upper limits and unconsciousness was threatening to take him if he didn't find a way to incapacitate Itachi and fast.  
"It seems time is now on my hands," Itachi smirked, "It'll only be a matter of time before you're too weak to stand under your own power. That two chakra projectiles can bring someone as powerful as you down to your knees so easily,"  
"Don't make me laugh," Ranma muttered, "Let's see you take just one and remain conscious,"  
Ranma disliked the body he was in. It was much weaker than he was used to. Possessing no innate AT Field, ki-blasts hurt like hell. The fact that he was also in the body of a teenager, a body unaccustomed to receiving damage like when he was in his older, more developed body, made Ranma realize he really had to work at defeating even a moderately powerful opponent nowadays.  
Damn, Ranma thought, I wouldn't be in this mess if I didn't get all caught up and ended up getting hit by that ki-blast like that. Itachi's ki-blast is as strong as my own, at least the one I use regularly. If it weren't for the fact that I'm used to reacting quicker than usually, I would've been knocked out by that first blast. And damn, that ki-blast I had to use basically on myself to get outta that Shadow Bind Technique doesn't help me one bit either.  
After a moment, Ranma started laughing, or at least laughing as much as his hurt body allowed him. He stopped when he coughed up some blood in the process and bolts of pain shot through his ribs again.  
"What's so amusing?" Itachi asked curiously, annoyed. "I came to a sudden realization," Ranma smirked, wiping the blood slowly dripping from his mouth, "I haven't fought a strong opponent in ages. Aside from Ryoga, you're the first real opponent I've had that's actually giving me trouble fighting. And you know what? I find it rather exciting,"

new stuff 3/20

Ranma extended his hand toward Itachi and shot out a ki-blast. Even though Naruto was lying unconscious right by Itachi's feet, Ranma wasn't all that worried. He knew Naruto was a tough kid and would survive being cause within such a close proximity of the blast. Naruto would not be leaving this fight without some nicks and scratches, but that was far better than what was in store for him should Itachi succeed in kidnapping him, that being death.  
To Ranma's surprise, Itachi deflected the ki-blast straight back at him, forcing Ranma to dive for cover. While Ranma had been surprised to see Itachi catch on so quickly and basically banish the subconscious fear of attempting to deflect such a powerful ki-blast, there had been a good enough distance between him and Itachi that Ranma was able to react in time and dodge the incoming deflected projectile.  
"Sonuvabitch!" Ranma muttered, gritting his teeth as he rolled on the ground and onto his feet, several trees behind him exploding as the ki-blast struck them and engulfed them in the blast.  
"With my Sharingan ability, something that like deflecting projectiles, while hard for you, is easy for me," Itachi smirked confidently.  
"Maybe I should just cut out your eyes and deprive you of that cherished ability of yours," Ranma grinned, "It seems like you rely on your Sharingan to get you out of a jam instead of using your own skills,"  
Itachi laughed, "Taunt me if you like. It bothers me none. Your mental games will have no effect on me,"  
Ranma took a step toward Itachi. Even though they were a good distance apart, Itachi still took a step back.  
"It seems like even thought I'm all messed up, I have the mental edge here," Ranma chuckled, stopping when the pain prevented him, "You lost to me twice before now so those two defeats are sitting pretty evidently in your mind,"  
Damn, I need to get closer to him, Ranma thought. He's good a good sense of spacing. If I'm closer, he won't have time to counter attack effectively should I try a frontal attack but it seems like he's already aware of this.  
"See it for whatever you want, I'm merely being cautious," Itachi replied, taking a step back as Ranma took a step forward, "Your speed is like nothing I have seen before. I even reluctantly acknowledge that you're faster than I am. By eliminating the effective usage of your speed, that puts you at a further disadvantage,"  
Ranma said, "Dude, you're on crack to think I'm at some huge disadvantage against you. I can kill you right now if I wanted to. I can have a simple beam-  
version of my Seppukku ki-blast will end this battle in a blink of an eye if I wanted to. You're just lucky I'm not the kinda person that will kill unless it's the necessary. And frankly speaking, you're not enough of a threat to me that I would do so,"  
Itachi laughed, "Your ways of thinking are amusing,"  
Ranma made a quick dash toward Itachi as the young man was laughing.  
Itachi quickly leapt backwards before Ranma could get close, shooting a ki-  
blast at the charging Ranma as he was leaping backwards through the air.  
"Gotcha!" Ranma deflected the ki-blast right back at Itachi, forcing Itachi to dodge out of the way, rolling away as the ki-blast missed him. Ranma grabbed the unconscious Naruto and threw him straight toward where he anticipated where Itachi would instinctively dodge to. The young boy flew bodily through the air where he crashed hard against Itachi, sending Itachi and Naruto tumbling on the ground over one another where they slammed against a tree.  
"I betcha you weren't expecting that," Ranma smirked, dashing up to where Itachi was, stopping to look down at the surprised Itachi.  
Itachi looked up at Ranma as Ranma down at him.  
Ranma had a big smirk on his lips. The battle had now been decided. Ranma was in close enough to end the battle at his discretion. With speed that exceeded Itachi's, Ranma was close enough and fast enough to knock out Itachi before Itachi could even begin to do anything but lie there and just look up at him.  
"You're good. I'll give you that," Ranma told Itachi, ready for any counter attack Itachi my mount, "But unfortunately, not good enough to defeat me,"  
"That's what you think," Itachi smirked.  
To Ranma's surprise, Itachi disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Itachi used the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Ranma realized. That was his clone!  
Ranma caught sight of Itachi as he seemingly appeared right next to him from out of the shadows. Before he had a chance to turn toward Itachi, Itachi lashed out at Ranma with a wicked roundhouse right toward Ranma's body.  
A piercing bolt of pain shot throughout his entire body as Ranma felt his damaged ribs break from the force of the impact. While his body was able to take wickedly powerful blunt forces hitting it, a precisions kick right at his already damaged kick was just too much.  
"You fuck!" Ranma sneered angrily at Itachi, "That hurt!"  
Before Itachi had a chance to pull his extended kick leg back toward him, Ranma wrapped both arms around Itachi's leg, seizing it up against his own body. In a single fluid motion, Ranma turned around, crouching low, bringing the seized leg up and around his own shoulder, slamming Itachi down on the ground with violent force, knocking the young man out instantly. When the dust from the impact cleared, Ranma found himself looking down at Itachi's unconscious form as the young man lay on his stomach. After a moment, Ranma winced in agonizing pain as the pain from Itachi's wicked kick and the broken ribs finally started to register.  
"Damn, that hurts," Ranma gritted his teeth, walking over to a tree and leaning against it, lifting his shirt to look at the damage to the side of his body. Under the pale moonlight shining through the treetops, Ranma was shocked to see that one of his broken ribs was poking at his skin from underneath, that it looked like he had a lump underneath his skin.  
He glanced in the direction of Itachi and gave the unconscious young man a sad look. After a moment, he turned around and slid down into a sitting position against the tree. Realizing that he was in mortal danger but really unable to do something, Ranma did the only thing that he could do.  
He passed out.

Shizune gasped at what she saw when she finally made it to the battlefield. Craters were everywhere and huge portion of the forest had been utterly destroyed. There was an eerie quietness to the location that made Shizune weary. She had heard the sounds of an intense battle just minutes before she finally caught up to Itachi and Kisame.  
She kept to the shadows, cautious that Itachi and Kisame might still be around. Her eyes widened when she saw Naruto lying on the ground near a tree a short distance away, unmoving. Fearing that the young boy might be dead, she quickly rushed out of the shadows and knelt right by his, checking his pulse.  
Naruto looked like he was in very bad shape, his body full of cuts and scrapes.  
"He's still alive," she sighed in relief when she felt a pulse and noticed the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest.  
"Ugh," Naruto moaned, slowly coming to consciousness.  
When Naruto finally opened his eyes a few minutes later, he was surprised to see Shizune looking down at him.  
"W-what happened?" the young boy muttered, his head aching, "Where am I?"  
Shizune gently placed a hand on Naruto's chest as he tried to sit upright, "Just lie there. You're hurt,"  
Naruto rubbed his head, "I think I'll be okay. What happened?"  
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Shizune asked.  
"I don't know," Naruto said, "I remember I was talking to Ranma one second ago and then suddenly seeing a bright flash of light. The next thing I know, I open my eyes and see you kneeling over me. Where are we?"  
Shizune said, "We're in the middle of a forest around a mile and a half outside a village. I don't really know what happened, but I saw a large explosion and happened to have seen Itachi and Kisame rushing in the direction of the explosion. I followed them and came across you unconscious here,"  
"Itachi and Kisame? They're here? Where?" Naruto quickly got to his feet, giving off little indication that he was supposed to be hurt.  
Shizune looked at Naruto curiously, wondering how he wasn't aware of what had happened. The place looked like a battlefield and she had figured Naruto and Ranma had been fighting Kisame and Itachi.  
"Where's Ranma?" Shizune asked, a bit concerned. While she was sure Ranma was capable of taking care of himself, there was still a sense of concern in her voice. Sure, Ranma was most likely a stronger fighter than Itachi, but Itachi was definitely someone that should be taken lightly.  
Naruto scratched his head, "Ranma? I dunno. I don't even really know what's going on," He looked around, "Jeez, what the heck happened here? What's with all these craters?"  
It seems like Naruto was knocked out before he even knew what hit him, Shizune thought. Shizune looked around, intent on finding clues as to which direction the fight had gone. Her search stopped when she caught sight of Kisame. The large man could be seen lying unconsciously on the ground a short distance away. The darkness made it hard for her to spot him.  
A quick glance at him allowed Shizune to realize that Kisame was out cold and would most likely not be waking up any time soon. That gave her a sense of relief. It seemed like Ranma had somehow managed to incapacitate him. Of course, that still left her with more questions. Where are Itachi and Ranma?  
Scanning the battlefield, her questions were answered when she spotted Ranma sitting by a tree, his back resting up against it.  
"Ranma!" she quickly headed over to where he was.  
She came to a skidding halt when she caught sight of Itachi's unconscious form right by Ranma. She didn't spot him because Ranma's body had been blocking her view of the young man. She couldn't help but feel a great sense of relief when she realized that Itachi seemed to be unconscious as well with no indication of him waking up any time soon.  
By Ranma's side, she was almost half-expecting him to simply smirk at her. That was why she was surprised to notice that Ranma himself was also unconscious. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that Ranma was badly hurt and that he had cuts and scrapes all over his body and blood was trickling down his mouth.  
She reached out to check Ranma's pulse and caught him when her touch accidentally made Ranma fall over toward the side. She gently placed him down on his back.  
"Oh man, Ranma's in bad shape," Naruto said as he approached them from behind, "Ah! There's Itachi!"  
"Don't worry about him," Shizune said, "He's unconscious and isn't someone we need to worry about. Ranma's in really bad shape,"  
Naruto looked worried, "What happened? Do you think Itachi did this to him?"  
"I think so," Shizune nodded, "I think you're not sure of what happened because you were knocked out before a battle between Itachi and Kisame happened. It seems like Ranma managed to defeat them, but he ended up passing out after the battle ended,"  
Naruto asked, worried, "H-he isn't going to die, is he?"  
Shizune noticed the labored breathing to Ranma and a portion of Ranma's side looking unnatural. Pulling up the bottom of Ranma's shirt, she was shocked to realize that one Ranma's ribs were broken and pressing against the skin from underneath. "Oh man, he's got a broken rib!" Naruto gasped. While he had seen people killed and people having more bodily harm than a broken rib, the sight of seeing someone like Ranma actually hurt like that made Naruto a bit queasy. Afterall, Naruto looked up to Ranma and saw him as almost invincible, far tougher than Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi combined.  
"We need to get Ranma back to the village and to a hospital," Shizune said quickly, "Ranma's at risk of having a punctured lung and he needs medical help and quickly,"  
Ranma groaned in pain as he momentarily became conscious, "Ugh,"  
"Relax," Shizune said in a gentle voice, "It's me, Shizune. You're going to be okay,"  
She couldn't help but feel this great sense of warmth fill her body when she noticed this look of gratitude on Ranma's face as their eyes made momentary contact. "Itachi and Kisame..." Ranma said weakly, "T-there's something I found out about them...let them live,"  
Ranma fell back into unconsciousness, leaving Shizune confused, "Why? What do you know about them?"  
He didn't wake back up despite the gentle nudging she was giving him. She had every intention of killing Itachi and Kisame, slitting their throats while those two were unconscious. Why did Ranma want them to live?  
"I hope you have a good explanation for that request because I'm going to hold you to it," she said, realizing that she would need to wait to find her answers. She gently placed one of Ranma's arms around her shoulder and tried to life him up, surprised at how heavy Ranma was, "Man, Ranma's a lot heavier than I thought,"  
"I'll carry him," Naruto said, proceeding to take off his weighted vest, "I carried him before,"  
Shizune watched in surprise as Naruto picked up Ranma like he was as light as a feather. Shocked was she of Naruto's strength. A young boy Naruto's size should not possess the kind of strength that he did. Having strength like that usually took years of strength training. How come Ranma's version of strength training develop Naruto's strength up to a point where it should take years for anyone else?  
"Let's get going," Naruto said, taking off in the direction of the village.  
Shizune watched Naruto as the young boy dashed off, disappearing into the woods. She glanced in the direction of Itachi's and Kisame's unconscious bodies, instinctively reaching into the folds of her clothes, gripping a dagger tightly in one hand.  
She should kill Itachi and Kisame while they were unconscious. However, Ranma had mentioned during that brief moment of consciousness that they should live. Should she follow Ranma's request and let them live?  
After a minute of contemplation, she snorted in annoyance before deciding to let them live.  
She turned around and disappeared into the woods.

Ranma felt sore when he opened his eyes again a couple of days later. His entire body ached as he recalled what had happened to him on the night he had to fight Itachi.  
He took a moment to look around and survey his surroundings. He realized that he wasn't in some kind of hospital room. The room itself looked more like a hotel room instead.  
Looking down at his arms, he was half-expecting to see tubes attached to both arms, all of them leading back to intravenous injections. However, to his surprise, he saw nothing. There were no tubes attached to his body. Aside from the fact that there were bandage wrappings wrapped around his entire torso, the hospital room was devoid of everything save for a bed and a few chairs and a table.  
I guess this world has a different form of medical technology aside from intravenous injections and such, Ranma thought. Glancing out the window in front of his bed, he noticed that it was daylight out, probably around noon. It made him wonder just how long he had been unconscious. Heck, he didn't even know what day it was. Of course, it didn't really matter what day it was anyway since he had no idea what day it was when he arrived on that world in the first place and no day was different from another to him. In the corner of the room, he caught sight of Shizune. She was sleeping soundly in a chair, her head resting on the armrest of the chair, curled up in a fetal position. Naruto could not be found, most likely outside training or such, to keep his mind occupied.  
Sitting upright, the blankets fell down to his side. He was clad only in his boxers and those bandages around his torso. He noticed his clothes in a small pile by the foot of the bed.  
Getting out of his bed, he proceeded to get dressed, taking care to leave the bandages on. As he go dressed, Shizune woke up.  
"Ranma, you're finally awake," she seemed relieved. She looked like she lacked sleep, like she had finally succumbed to sleep after having been awake by his side for so long.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "And thanks to you, I feel better,"  
"I've been worried," she stated, blushing slightly. She didn't like to show any vulnerability on her part, but she had been genuinely concerned for Ranma's welfare.  
Ranma smiled warmly, "I'm happy you were concerned, but I feel much better now. Where are we?"  
"In a hotel room," she said.  
"Oh? I figured so," he scratched his head, "How come?"  
"Well, given the fact that you're hurt and Itachi and Kisame are still alive, there could've been the chance that they might come looking for us in the hospital," Shizune stated, "I didn't want to take any chances,"  
Ranma said, "That was a good idea,"  
"Actually, Naruto thought of that," Shizune said, "It seems like the young boy is pretty good at planning ahead. I guess it might have to do with your training him,"  
Ranma asked, "What was the damage? I was pretty messed up before I passed out,"  
"Two broken ribs, a punctured lung because of those ribs, torn ligaments around both shoulders, countless lacerations," Shizune said, "You were very close to death when we got you to the hospital,"  
Ranma said nothing. That was how he was first killed, by broken ribs. His heart had been punctured by a broken rib that eventually lead to his death in his hospital bed. "Itachi and Kisame are still alive, huh?" Ranma changed the subject, "That's good to hear. I figured you were going to kill them while they were unconscious. It seems like you carried out my request,"  
Shizune said, "Yes, reluctantly, very reluctantly. I hope you have a really good reasoning behind letting them live, especially after they did this to you," "I have a really good reason actually," Ranma said, "During our fight, I found out exactly who Itachi is and why he's after Naruto," "And what might that be?" she asked.  
"You're not going to believe this, but it seems like he's trying to be a good son," Ranma said.  
"What do you mean?" she was confused.  
"He's trying to bring his parents back to life," Ranma said.  
"That doesn't make sense," Shizune said, "Didn't he kill his parents?"  
Ranma shook his head, feeling a sense of sadness for Itachi as he realized he and Itachi had more in common than he originally believed.  
"No, his parents were actually murdered. He wants Naruto because he's trying to grow strong enough to avenge them,"

new stuff 3/21

Ranma and Shizune emerged from the hotel and crossed the street to the park where Naruto had been busy doing katas. Because the sight of seeing Ranma unconscious had been too much for the young boy, Naruto took to his training in earnest, using that as an excuse to keep himself occupied, to keep his mind from wandering onto the thought that Ranma might never pull through despite the doctor's assurance that Ranma would be fine after some rest.  
Once in the park, it didn't take long for the two of them to spot Naruto. The young boy was near a massive tree where he was busily kicking at it much like it was some kind of punching bag. It was obvious that he must have been doing it for a while because the tree looked like it would topple over soon, the trunk caved-in almost completely from the constant kicks.  
Realizing that Naruto hadn't noticed them yet, his back toward them, Ranma and Shizune decided to simply indulge in some conversation until he did.  
"So let me get this straight, Itachi's intent on kidnapping Naruto so he could harness the Nine-Tail's power within Naruto's body to make him more powerful?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. It seems like he truly believes that the power of the Nine-Tails is powerful enough to do something such as that,"  
"How did you find this out?" she asked, "Did he tell you this while you were fighting one another?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. I saw it in his eyes. There was a span of time where he and I made eye contact while I was looking down at him after I had knocked him down. Of course, I didn't realize I had been looking down at his clone but it seemed like his clone possessed the exact same memories as the original. That's how I ended up getting my ribs broken. The clone disappeared as the real Itachi attacked me from behind. I managed to knock him out after he attacked me, but not before he actually hit me hard enough to break my ribs,"  
"Please, tell me his story or what you got out of it," Shizune asked, genuinely interested, "I don't know much about Itachi, but there is some general information about him most people know,"  
"Like what?" Ranma asked. "He's classified as an S-Class criminal, the highest and most dangerous category in terms of criminals," Shizune said, "A mission to take him down or apprehend him is considered an S-Ranked mission,"  
"S-Class mission?" Ranma scratched his head.  
"Ninjas go on missions," Shizune answered, "They usually go in teams of three to four. How dangerous a mission is is categorized into ranks S, A, B, and C. A 'C' class mission is considered very simple, tasks meant for beginner ninjas, Genins. They include things like retrieving animals and such,"  
"I follow ya," Ranma said, "What about 'B' and 'A' class missions?"  
"They're more dangerous," Shizune said, "A 'B' class mission could be something like retrieving or killing a dangerous animal or perhaps escorting some merchant. While there is a good element of danger, they're usually not life-threatening missions. An 'A' class mission is usually something along the lines of escorting someone that is a prime candidate for assassinations. Life-  
threatening situations are basically guaranteed and it's expected that someone on the team may lose his or her life. And last but not least, an 'S' class mission is about as dangerous as missions go. Those are missions where people of extreme skill are expected to undertake, and there's still no guarantee that they will be coming home alive,"  
"Like what kind of missions?" Ranma asked.  
Shizune said, "Something like major assassination attempts. Something like assassinating the leader of a rivaling village would be considered an 'S' class mission. Not only would it be nearly impossible to kill someone with the skill of the Hokage, but being able to escape after the assassination makes it all the more dangerous since an entire village will be out after your head. Only someone like the Hokage or someone next in line for such a title are usually skilled enough to carry out such tasks,"  
"Oh, I understand," Ranma said, "So I guess Itachi's that dangerous, huh? People like the Hokage are expected to deal with him, huh?"  
Shizune nodded.  
Ranma scratched his head, "Hm, that would basically mean that Orochimaru guy's an S-Class criminal too, huh? I mean he did kill the Hokage, afterall,"  
Shizune nodded, "Yes. Orochimaru is just as dangerous,"  
"Of course, I've never really dealt with Orochimaru before so there's really no way to tell," Ranma shrugged, "If he's anything like Itachi, it would get bothersome if I'd hafta deal with them, especially if they team up together,"  
Shizune said, "Well, I don't think we need to worry about that. Neither Orochimaru nor Itachi seem to like one another,"  
"What about their alliance?" Ranma asked, "I remember them having teamed up together. Jiraiya was left to fight Itachi and Kisame while Orochimaru was left to fight Tsunade,"  
"It was most likely a reluctant alliance," Shizune said.  
Ranma said, "Well, that's good to hear. If I hafta contend with both Orochimaru and Itachi, that would be very bothersome. I'm pretty good at fighting, but not quite that good,"  
Shizune was surprised to hear that, "I never figured you'd be the modest type, given your personality,"  
"Ha ha," Ranma smirked, "My fight with Itachi kinda opened up my eyes. Also, the fact that Itachi has basically grown exponentially stronger since I last fought him, it kinda worries me of how hard it'll be to deal with him if I bump into him again,"  
"What do you mean?" she asked, "And speaking of which, I was actually surprised to see you so badly hurt from a fight with him. Didn't you take care of him and Kisame like they were nothing that other time you fought?"  
"Itachi's using that Sharingan ability of his to see and acquire my abilities," Ranma muttered, "It's really hard to deal with. What I need is some damn pepper spray. That should keep him from using those eyes of his,"  
Shizune giggled, finding the comment amusing.  
Ranma shrugged, "I'm kinda worried with fighting him, yes, but not incredibly worried. Even though he has that Sharingan ability of his, I still have a big edge. He's still an inexperienced fighter, relatively speaking,"  
"Inexperienced? Itachi's probably one of the most dangerous and most powerful fighters you'll ever come across," Shizune said in surprise, "How can you possibly say something like that, that he's inexperienced?"  
"Relatively speaking," Ranma said, "He's pretty young. I may look younger than him, but I have much more experience, simply from all those life adventures I've been through,"  
Shizune smiled slightly, "Well, experience is the hardest ability to acquire. Even the Sharingan ability can't give Itachi experience. The ability to analyze and deal with dire situations into one you can deal with can only be acquired through experience. I'm pretty sure you have that in spades,"  
"Thanks," Ranma smiled warmly, "I'm just grateful that I spar against people like Ryoga whenever I get the chance,"  
"You keep mentioning this Ryoga person, is he some kind of sparring partner of yours back on your world?" she asked curiously, "He's some kind of rival, right?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. He's probably the hardest guy I've ever come across in terms of fighting straight-up. When I had God-powers, we used to spar all the time. However, sometimes, when we sparred, I'm actually resorted to using those powers to beat him which is against the rules of our sparring,"  
"So this Ryoga person actually beats you by making you cheat?" Shizune asked.  
"More or less," Ranma chuckled, "Sure, fighting has no rules, but still, it's kinda messed up,"  
Shizune asked, "How did this Ryoga become so strong?"  
"I dunno," Ranma shrugged, "I never really bothered asking or checking into it. He never really cared about what kinda adventures I get into and I never cared about what kinda adventures he gets into,"  
"This Ryoga person definitely seems powerful," Shizune said, "What's strange is that you talk about Itachi in the same light as this Ryoga person. How can you not be worried about it? Ryoga and you fight so you don't try and kill each other. Itachi's trying to kill you,"  
Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "I'm not worried about that. Sure, he seems to wanna kill me, but it's understandable,"  
"Gee, you're awfully open-minded about things like this," Shizune said wryly, "Letting people go can eventually get you killed,"  
"Perhaps, but it's something I'm willing to risk," Ranma said, "I don't kill, not unless it's absolutely necessary. And given Itachi's situation, he's a lot like me,"  
"You mean about your past?" she asked, recalling the tale Ranma had told.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. He's basically what I was when I was young. I was hell-  
bent on avenging the death of my family and friends and nothing else,"  
"If you were like Itachi then, how come you're so different now?" she asked.  
"Because, as cheesy as it sounds, I've learned to move on," Ranma said, "I learned that there's more to life than revenge. Of course, it also helps that I actually avenged their deaths by bringing down the mega-corporation, Genom, that had gotten them killed,"  
"So what does that mean?" Shizune asked, "That you're okay with Itachi killing Naruto to get revenge so that he can eventually move on?"  
Ranma said, "No,"  
"Then what are you going to do?" she asked curiously.  
"I'm going to help him,"  
Ranma and Naruto and Shizune and Ton-Ton found themselves walking down a dirt path, heading Northward. Despite the setback with Ranma running into Itachi, they still had a quest, to head North to 'Banishment Peninsula' so Ranma could get his hands on the 'Tool of Banishment', a relic that he believed to be this world's version of the nanban mirror.  
"I don't think that's a good plan," Shizune said, "Helping out Itachi,"  
"He's not that bad a guy," Ranma said, "I'm sure he can be swayed,"  
"How? This is the same Itachi that almost killed you!" Shizune said loudly.  
"So what?" Ranma said, "I've been in that predicament before. I've actually tried killing several people that are now some of my closest friends,"  
"What, you want to be Itachi's friend now?" Shizune gasped, "This guy's a murderer,"  
Ranma smirked, "So am I if you think about it,"  
Shizune said nothing for a bit, "But you said you had to do what you had to do. Other people's lives were in jeopardy, right?"  
Ranma nodded, "Well, yeah, but still, taking a life means you're going down a path that you can't readily fix, or should I say, not supposed to fix,"  
"Whatcha mean by that?" Naruto scratched his head.  
"It's God's decree that anyone that dies shall not be resurrected," Ranma said, "It's the way things work,"  
"That doesn't make sense, you've died several times and you're still around," Shizune said.  
Ranma said, "Yeah, well, I guess I'm kinda different in that matter. The point is is that once a person dies, they're not to be brought back. It's basically forbidden,"  
"How come?" Naruto and Shizune asked simultaneously.  
Ranma said, "It's disrespectful to the dead. When a person dies, they go to Heaven. When they're brought back to life, they're being ripped away from Heaven and back into the living world. It's disrespectful and isn't tolerated,"  
"How come?" she asked.  
"It's considered an ultimate form of human selfishness," Ranma said, "To want someone back because you miss them, that's considered the ultimate act of selfishness in the eyes of God. In case you don't know, Heaven kicks ass. When you die, you're gonna go to Heaven. Once you're there, you will never want to come back. You can just as easily come back to life from the other world as you can kill yourself and leave this world. Of course, once you're on the other side, you'll never want to come back. To be resurrected means the soul is torn from Heaven and shoved back into the living world. Think of it as this. You've lived a life of absolute sadness, and then suddenly find absolute happiness. Do you think you want to go back to that sadness again? No way. Resurrection is basically equivalent to someone living in that world of sadness missing you and forcing you to come back to their world. The problem is that because the person in the world of sadness doesn't know what absolute happiness they think they're doing you a favor when instead, you would want to bring them to your world instead,"  
"Oh, I understand," Naruto said, "Basically, the living world sucks compared to this so-called Heaven, huh?"  
Ranma chuckled, "That's basically the gist of it,"  
"So how come you come back from there? Why would you come back to the living world if you were dead?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma shrugged, "It's a long story. It has something to do with how I'm not connected to Fate so I'm not Fated to stay in Heaven like everyone else. Since Fate doesn't pertain to me, things that most people are Fated to do doesn't pertain to me,"  
"So, what you're saying is that when we die, it will be our Fate that we will never come back to the living world?" Naruto asked.  
"Bingo," Ranma grinned, "What, you think Fate only applies to you when you're alive? Not quite. It applies to you after you die,"  
"What about ghosts and such?" she asked, "Aren't they lost souls?"  
"Yeah, they eventually find their way into Heaven so it's all good," Ranma said, "When you're a ghost, time means nothing to you so wandering the Earth for a million years means nothing. Look, maybe we should stop talking about this, I don't even know how we got onto this subject in the first place,"  
"We were talking about how Itachi seems to wanna resurrect his parents," Naruto jumped in.  
"Oh yeah," Ranma said, "Anyway, because it's not nice to resurrect people, I hafta make it known to him that he's not supposed to bring them back. In a sense, I'm kinda like a representative speaking on behalf of the dead,"  
"But what makes you so sure they don't want to be back?" Shizune asked.  
"Trust me, they don't wanna come back," Ranma smirked, "You just don't understand until you know what Heaven's like,"  
"Okay," she said.  
"So what do you plan on doing to convince him not to resurrect his parents?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "I'll talk to him,"  
"That's it?" Shizune seemed rather surprised at the reply, "I don't think someone like Itachi would suddenly give up his goals just because he and you had some chat,"  
Ranma said, "No, not that. I'll have him tag along with us,"

new stuff 3/22

"What?" Shizune and Naruto gasped.  
"Yeah, I'm gonna ask him to accompany us to 'Banishment Peninsula'," Ranma said, "Actually, he was headed there initially so it's all good. Anyway, I can bring him home with me so we can go and contact God and have God explain to him that he's not supposed to do what he intends to do. While I might not be able to convince him to change his way, I'm sure God, of all people, will be able to,"  
Shizune and Naruto looked at one another.  
"Wait, you're going to go contact God, as in the Almighty One, and ask God to talk Itachi out of trying to resurrect his parents?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yep. That's basically the gist of it. We can contact God from there and have her visit and have a chat with him,"  
"Why your world? Why bring him to your world?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma said, "We have God's phone number. I can call her up. Also, I'm sure she visits from time to time so it won't be that hard to get in contact with her,"  
"Man, now I just hafta visit your world," Naruto said enthusiastically, "I would love to meet God just for the sake of being able to tell people 'I met God',"  
Ranma chuckled, "Sure, if you want,"  
"Um, I'd like to visit too," Shizune nervously threw out.  
Ranma shrugged, "I guess. I don't see no problem in it. Heh, I don't think the girls back home will appreciate it,"  
"W-what do you mean by that?" she asked.  
"You know how many girls chill around my house back home?" Ranma chuckled, "Every time I show up on my world, I end up bringing girls back home with me,"  
"T-to sleep with them?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma gave Shizune and odd look, "Huh? What are you talking about? When the heck did sex suddenly pop into the conversation? Dontcha realize we have a child here among us?"  
"I'm not a child," Naruto said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.  
"Sure you're not," Ranma rubbed the top of Naruto's head, messing up his hair, "You go on and believe that. I find it funny how all kids seem to wanna act like adults in a hurry,"  
Shizune smirked, "And how certain adults act like kids?"  
"Ha ha," Ranma grinned, "I guess you have a point there,"  
"You said that Itachi was on his way toward 'Banishment Peninsula' initially, do you know why?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma gave a grin, "It seemed like I had something to do with it,"  
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.  
"Itachi acquired the ability to shoot ki-blasts from me," Ranma said, "Because of that, he has a serious edge over basically anyone around he encounters, except for myself. Now, because of this, he intends to acquire the 'Tool of Banishment' and use that to seek revenge,"  
"You're confusing us," Shizune said.  
Ranma said, "Well, it's confusing if y'think about it. Even though it's basically an invasion of his privacy, I guess there's no harm in telling you Itachi's full story. It's a really interesting one if actually,"  
Shizune and Naruto looked eager to hear what Ranma had to say, their full attention on Ranma.  
"The Uchiha clan, the clan that has the Sharingan ability, only has two remain survivors, Itachi and his younger brother, Sasuke," Ranma said, "The common belief is that Itachi killed his parents. That's why Sasuke wants to kill his brother and avenge their deaths,"  
Naruto asked, "Is that why Sasuke seemed to be power hungry? Is that why we he tried to defect from Hidden Leaf Village, to become powerful enough to kill his brother? I remember a while ago Sasuke mentioned that his only goal in life was to become strong enough to kill one person. At that time, I didn't know that it was his brother that he wanted to kill,"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. That's right. Now, here's where there are twists and turns that you might find confusing. Itachi and Sasuke aren't bad people. It's because of what they had gone through when they were young one might assume they're going down the wrong path toward, well, being evil,"  
"Sasuke isn't evil," Naruto tried to defend Sasuke, "Sure, he may be a jerk at times, but he's not evil. There were several times where he's saved my life,"  
"Sorry, but knowing Sasuke, if he continues on the path he's going down, he will be viewed upon as a menace to society," Ranma said, "He and Itachi both. They're hell-bent on revenge. If revenge is always on your agenda, it'll eventually corrupt you. Believe me, I know,"  
"How do you know?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma gave a slight smile, "Don't worry about it. I just do. Much like power corrupts a person, the ambition for power also corrupts someone. Usually, revenge and the ambition to become powerful enough to get your revenge go hand-  
in-hand and therefore corrupts,"  
"Oh," Naruto said.  
"Anyway, because the Sharingan ability is such a powerful ability," Ranma said, "Believe me, I know. Itachi learning something like the ki-blast and being able to use it just by merely watching it once is incredible. Because it's such an amazing ability, it's obvious that people would want that kind of ability. Because it's hereditary and only exists within the Uchiha bloodline, people not of the Uchiha bloodline are envious of that ability and want it for themselves. Shortly after Sasuke was born, his parents were murdered by none other than the Akatsuki organization,"  
"What? That's the same organization Itachi belongs to!" Shizune said.  
"Pretty ironic, dontcha think?" Ranma smirked, "Itachi is a member of the same organization that killed his and Sasuke's parents,"  
Shizune and Naruto said nothing, shocked at the realization.  
"The Akatsuki organization seems to be an organization hell-bent on power," Ranma said, "They consist of several extremely powerful individuals that want to become more powerful. Among those members is Itachi. Like I said before, the ambition for power corrupts so that organization's pretty evil. The organization also wants the power of the Sharingan. When Itachi's and Sasuke's parents were murdered, they were replaced by imposters posing as their parents,"  
"Lemme guess, Itachi somehow found out that those 'parents' were imposters and killed them," Naruto said.  
Ranma nodded, "Actually, it kind of broke Itachi's spirit, to have found out the truth, that his so called 'parents' were raising him to adulthood to exploit his Sharingan ability. It seems like when young, the Sharingan ability doesn't reach its full potential until the person that inherited the ability reaches adulthood,"  
"What about the parents? What happened to their Sharingan ability?" Naruto asked, "They're adults. Does that mean their abilities were exploited as well?"  
Ranma nodded, "Not quite. It seems like the Sharingan ability's true power skips a generation. Their parents, while possessing the Sharingan ability, didn't have the ability quite as powerful as Itachi's and Sasuke's. I think your sensei, Kakashi, has that ability, some kinda tone-down version of it. You see, that particular Sharingan ability the parents had seemed to coincide with the ability with Kakashi,"  
Naruto asked, "Wait, does that mean Kakashi is somehow related to the Uchiha clan?"  
"I dunno," Ranma shrugged, "Perhaps. Who knows? There's probably some kinda correlation but I dunno what it would be. Anyway, I have no idea what was in store for Itachi and Sasuke had they been raised to adulthood, but I'm pretty sure they would've been killed. Itachi somehow found out what was going on and killed his parents,"  
"Wait, if that's the case, then wouldn't the Akatsuki organization be aware that he knows about what's going on?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma smirked, "Here's where it gets weird. Itachi somehow masked the murder of his 'parents' as a smoke screen that he was becoming 'evil'. If you think about it, he did a good job because the entire world is fooled into thinking he's some heartless murderer that had no qualms about killing his own parents. The Akatsuki organization seems to be fooled as well, thinking that Itachi's simply unstable and that him killing his 'parents' was simply him growing up into a bad seed,"  
"Oh my God, I never realized that," Shizune said, "So that means Itachi's pegged as an S-Class criminal because he is playing the role to basically hide his true self?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Itachi's also joined the Akatsuki organization to further mask his true agenda. He's basically a part of the group to keep that group from hunting him down and basically dissecting him for his Sharingan ability,"  
"Oh man, that's crazy," Naruto gasped, "I never knew things were that complicated,"  
"Still waters run deep," Ranma smirked, "There's usually always a story behind someone's actions. Never assume anything because not everything is as it seems. Itachi is a good example,"  
"So, Itachi is basically biding his time to become powerful enough to kill everyone within the Akatsuki organization?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded.  
"Itachi's incredibly powerful," Shizune said, "I figure someone like him would have no problem taking out a small country, let alone a group of people,"  
Ranma nodded, "Hey, as strong as he may be, that doesn't mean he's powerful enough to take on that many people. He maybe be one of the stronger individual members, but in terms of numbers, he'll get overpowered. It's a numbers game. That's why he's seeking power, so he can avenge his parents, the real parents that were murdered and replaced,"  
"That's why he wants me, because he wants the Nine-Tails?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Of course, things are starting to change with him,"  
"How so?" Naruto asked, "You mean he's having a change in heart about kidnapping me?"  
Ranma chuckled, "No. Not at all. He'll still try and kidnap you if he can. With the power of the Nine-Tails, he can bring back his parents. It's unfortunate that Naruto will die if Itachi manages to harness the power of the Nine-Tails from him. Like I said, he's becoming corrupted by that need for revenge that his sense of morals have gone right out the window,"  
Naruto gulped.  
"The thing is is that Itachi now has other ways of becoming more powerful," Ranma smiled, "You see, because we fought each other, Itachi has become significantly more powerful now that he can readily shoot ki-blasts like I can. And because of this, he seems to have other options,"  
"What options?" Shizune asked.  
"Well, Itachi seems to be aware of the 'Tool of Banishment'," Ranma said, "It seems like he believes he's powerful enough to take acquire that item by force and use that against the Akatsuki organization. Of course, as to how he's gonna use it or find out how to use it, that's a whole 'nother question. If it's really the nanban mirror like I expect it to be, it'll be kinda useless. Anyway, that's why he was headed North and happened to have been nearby when Naruto messed up and blew up all those explosive wards,"  
"Me? You're the one that screwed up!" Naruto shouted.  
"Hey, don't go casting the blame on me," Ranma smirked.  
"Look, forget who did what back with those explosive wards," Shizune said impatiently, "Back onto Itachi, how does he know about the 'Tool of Banishment',"  
"That's easy, he's smart," Ranma said, "He's aware of it but never thought to try and take on the 'Committee' for the 'Tool of Banishment' until after he felt he was powerful enough to do so,"  
Shizune said, "Okay, so does that mean we're probably going to bump into him along our trip North?"  
"Yep," Ranma said, "That's a good thing because I can talk to him when I meet him,"  
"Here's a question," Naruto said, "If Itachi found out about what was going on and killed his 'parents', how come he never let Sasuke in on what was going on?"  
Ranma said, "Sasuke's young. He would rather have Sasuke hating him and wanting to kill him than have Sasuke aware of what's going on. It happened a long time ago, when Sasuke' was basically a very young boy, and telling Sasuke the truth of what's going on when he was that would not've been prudent. Itachi believes Sasuke isn't prepared to handle the truth,"  
"Yeah, but Sasuke's older now," Naruto said, "Why won't Itachi come out and reveal the truth to him?"  
"Because it's already too late," Ranma said, "That hatred for his brother is so ingrained within Sasuke that Itachi feels it's no use to reveal the truth because Sasuke won't believe him. Besides, it seems like Itachi wanted to accept the burden of avenging their parents. He wants his younger brother to live a relatively normal life,"  
"How's that?" Naruto asked, "If Sasuke is hell-bent on killing his brother, he's not going to live a normal life until he's dead,"  
"That's the thing," Ranma said, "Once Itachi avenges his parents' death, he has ever intention of dying by Sasuke's own hands. It seems like Itachi realizes he's at the stage in his life where he can no longer go back to becoming the person he used to be,"  
"Whatcha mean?" Naruto asked.  
"Because of the things he's gone through," Ranma said, "It's kinda like me. Because of what I've been through, I can never go back to becoming the kinda person I was before the deaths of my friends and family. The idea is that Itachi no longer has a chance of living a normal life after this. Sasuke still has a chance, which is why Itachi has no intention of telling him the truth,"  
"What confuses me is exactly how Itachi intends to avenge his parents' murder," Shizune asked, "Does he intend to destroy the Akatsuki organization and resurrect his parents? How do you intend to help him out?"  
Ranma nodded, "I'm going to help him realize that trying to resurrect his parents is wrong. If I convince him of that, then we can perhaps prevent him from going after Naruto. That's because the power of the Nine-Tails can actually resurrect them. If I remove that goal of his and make him realize that that goal in unnecessary, he won't go after Naruto for that power to resurrect,"  
"But what about the Akatsuki organization? How do you intend to stop him from going after them?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma chuckled, "Who says I'm gonna try and stop him from going after 'em?"

Ranma and Shizune and Naruto sat around a campfire situated nearby a river. Located near the campfire was a make-shift hot spring that Ranma had created in similar fashion to before. Naruto and Ranma had already taken a relaxing dip in it not too long ago.  
It was late at night, shortly after midnight.  
Ton-Ton had already retired into one of the two tents for the night. Naruto looked very tired as he tried to keep awake and listen in on the conversation between Ranma and Shizune. Listening to adults converse was rather interesting, perhaps because one of them was Ranma.  
"So lemme get this straight, you plan on becoming a medical ninja?" Ranma asked.  
Shizune nodded, "Yes. That's one of the reasons why I traveled with Tsunade, because she's one of the greatest medical ninjas that exist and I was learning from her,"  
Ranma said, "Ah. That's good to hear,"  
Naruto yawned as sleep started to fall over him.  
Ranma turned toward Naruto, "Hey, you should go to sleep. It's late,"  
"Nah, I'll stay up for a little bit longer," Naruto said.  
"You can if you want, but considering we're gonna be traveling just as long tomorrow as we did today, you'll grow to regret staying up late since you're young and your body requires more sleep than Shizune and I require," Ranma grinned.  
Naruto sighed, "Fine, I'll go to sleep then,"  
Shizune and Ranma watched as Naruto languidly got up from his sitting position and walked over to the tent and disappeared into it.  
"You're good with children," Shizune smiled.  
Ranma shrugged, "Not really. I think children seem to listen to me more because I kinda act like them so they don't really see me as an adult,"  
Shizune giggled.  
"I guess I'm better with children than others," Ranma said, "I always liked children,"  
"Do you ever plan on having children?" Shizune asked, blushing slightly.  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "I had a problem about it before because I was an Angel and Angel's can't have children because it's a failsafe imposed upon any divine being, but now that's not a problem since I'm human,"  
"What do you mean?" she asked.  
Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "It's nothing important,"  
He got up off his sitting position and started heading for the tank, "I'm gonna head off and get some sleep now,"  
"Okay," Shizune smiled, "Oh, before you go-"  
"Oh, I forgot," Ranma said, turning around and walking over to the make-shift hot spring and sticking his hand into it. After a few seconds, steam could be seen rising from its surface as the water became hot again, thanks to Ranma's use of ki.  
"Thanks," she said.  
"Goodnight," Ranma said, heading to his tent. Shizune waited until Ranma disappeared into the tent before she started to undress. After she had removed her top, she heard Ranma emerge from the tent.  
"Ranma!" she shrieked, covering up her front with her shirt, blushing.  
"Relax, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before," Ranma chuckled, "I already saw you naked before. Seeing you naked now is no different,"  
Shizune didn't look amused at the comment.  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward the tent, "It looks like we're going to be sleeping together,"  
"W-what?" Shizune's eyes widened.  
"We're going to be sleeping together tonight," Ranma said.  
Shizune said nothing, a blush on her cheeks. Was Ranma making his move? They were going to be having sexual intercourse? Inexperienced in sexual relations, Shizune didn't know what to think. All she could do was stare at him, speechless.  
"Ton-Ton and Naruto are sleeping in the same tent," Ranma said, "Looks like we're gonna be sharing the same tent again, not unless you wanna wake either Ton-Ton or Naruto up. They're both sleeping soundly and I'ven't the heart to wake either of 'em up. I'm going to sleep in the other tent,"  
Shizune blushed, "Oh, okay,"  
Ranma smirked, "What? Oh, wait, you thought-"  
"I wasn't thinking that!" Shizune shouted.  
"Yeah, you were," Ranma grinned, "You were expecting us to be having-"  
"I was not!" new stuff 3/23

Shizune yawned as she emerged from her tent early in the morning. She had ended up sharing a tent with Ranma that night, unable to bring herself to wake up Naruto and make him sleep in the tent with Ranma. Luckily, Ranma had been sound asleep when she entered the tent after she was done with her dip in Ranma's make-shift hot spring.  
It was around eight in the morning when she woke up, she having gone to sleep later than normal simply because she had trouble readily falling asleep, constantly aware of Ranma's close proximity in the tent with her.  
As she stepped out of the tent, she caught sight of Ton-Ton as it happily ate a pile of truffles it had collected from the forest. Glancing toward the side, she caught sight of Naruto standing by the riverbed, extending both hands forward out in the direction of the water as Ranma watched intently right next to him.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" the young boy shouted.  
Her eyes widened in disbelief as she caught sight of a spherical object similar to Ranma's own ki-blast, except much smaller, rocket forward from Naruto's extended hand, traveling over the river, creating a wake in the process like that of a boat sailing across the waters, where the blast struck a tree and exploded, damaging the tree. The damage done to the tree was miniscule, doing nothing more than breaking off a few pieces of bark.  
"I did it! I did it!" Naruto shouted happily, jumping up and down.  
"Not bad," Ranma grinned, "Y'see, your training's coming along fine. You don't need to attempt shooting ki-blasts every day to get used to it. The mere training you get from donning that heavy weighted vest of yours is more than enough,"  
"Good morning," Shizune approached the two of them.  
"Morning," Ranma smiled, "Sleep well?"  
"Um, okay, I guess," she said after a moment, "Did I just see Naruto do what I thought I saw?"  
Ranma smiled proudly, like that of a proud father, "Yep. Naruto shot his first real ki-blast, all on his own,"  
"Wow, that's awesome!" Naruto said with a big smile, "I can't believe I did it!"  
Ranma tabbed at his own ribs, "Well, I guess my getting hurt was a good thing. Since you constantly trained during the times I was unconscious to keep yourself preoccupied, the training helped out a lot. You're actually a few days ahead of schedule in terms of your training,"  
"Yeah, but my projectile did almost no damage to the tree," Naruto said sadly, "I could punch the tree a few times and do as much damage,"  
Ranma nodded, "That's true, but it isn't about power yet. That'll come along with time,"  
"Oh man, I can't wait to start shooting blasts like you," Naruto grinned mischievously, "I'll be unstoppable!"  
Ranma started laughing. He turned toward Shizune, "Remember that comment I mentioned to you about how power corrupts? It seems like Naruto's well on the way in terms of corruption now that he's shot his first legitimate ki-blast,"  
Naruto quickly said, "I was just messing around! I'm not gonna let something like that go to my head!"  
Ranma messed up Naruto's head, "I know. If I knew that you would become corrupt, I wouldn'tve ever've taught ya in the first place,"  
Naruto said nothing, not really knowing what Ranma meant by that. "Anyway, good job on the ki-blast," Ranma said, "We can try it out again tomorrow,"  
"What? You're only gonna let me do it once?" Naruto seemed to whine, "I finally started getting the hang of it and you're not gonna let me practice?"  
Ranma said, "Nope. You'll improve better with time with something like this. You're not really gonna get much of a more powerful ki-blast than whatcha just did because your body's still not up to the task. Practicing shooting the ki-  
blasts won't help out all that much. Training your body is much better,"  
"Okay," Naruto said reluctantly.  
Ranma nudged at Shizune, "Hey, Shizune, you better start training, I give Naruto a day or two before he will catch up and surpass you at this rate,"  
"What?" Shizune was almost offended, "Look, Naruto is only at the Chuunin level. I'm at the Jounin level, and been a Jounin for a while. I'm sure at this level, Naruto can easily be considered in the upper Chuunin level, but at a Jounin level, I don't know about that,"  
"Rank means nothing," Ranma grinned, "In this world, wouldn't I be considered a beginner ninja, a Genin? I wouldn't even be considered a intermediate ninja like Naruto,"  
Shizune said, "Yes, but in your case, it's different,"  
"Actually, in my case, I'm not even considered a Chuunin," Naruto said, "I'm still in the process of becoming a Chuunin. Of course, everything's on hold because of all that's been happening,"  
Ranma smiled at Shizune, "Well, there y'have it, a confirmation on your part that rank doesn't matter. You mistaken Naruto for a Chuunin when he's only a Genin. That means he's two full ranks below you, a Jounin,"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"How about a quick test?" Ranma smiled, "A quick match between Shizune and Naruto, to see how far along Naruto's come,"  
Naruto and Shizune looked at one another.  
"Okay, I'm up for it," Shizune said, stretching, "I just woke up and wouldn't mind a bit of exercise to get me ready for the rest of the day to come. What do you have in mind?"  
Ranma scratched at his chin for a bit.  
"Ah, I know," he said, "Shizune take out one of your daggers,"  
Shizune did as she was told.  
"Naruto, try and grab the dagger from her," Ranma said, "Shizune, just keep the dagger away from Naruto. See if you can do this for five minutes,"  
"That sounds good exercise," Shizune said, flipping the dagger up and balancing it on the tip of her finger tip.  
Naruto reached out and grabbed the dagger as Shizune was balancing it. The speed of which he grabbed at the dagger surprised Shizune.  
"Don't you know how to wait?" Ranma said to Naruto, "Wait until I say go,"  
"Oh, sorry," Naruto handed the dagger back to Shizune. Shizune's lips were a thin line. Naruto had inadvertently revealed the extent of his speed and it was a lot faster than she had ever anticipated. Sure, she wasn't really expecting him to grab at the dagger like that, but even she should had been able to pull it away in time had he jumped the gun. It made her realize that she wasn't that slow. It was Naruto that was that fast. That realization opened up her eyes.  
Ranma looked at Shizune and Naruto and smiled, "Hey, how about we make it interesting? If Shizune keeps Naruto from getting her dagger, Naruto has to pack up both tents and all the camping equipment. Vice versa for Naruto,"  
"That sounds good," Naruto smiled.  
"What about you?" Shizune asked Ranma, "It sounds to me that this little exercise is a way of you not having to do any of the work,"  
Ranma gave a shy smile, "Hee hee. I guess you have a point there. All right, fine, I'll simply disassemble the tents. The loser has to pack them up, is that good?"  
"That sounds good," Naruto and Shizune agreed.  
"You two ready?" he asked them both.  
They both nodded, getting into ready stances. Shizune looked ready to dodge whatever attempt Naruto had planned at swiping the dagger from her hand. Naruto looked ready to lunge.  
"Begin!" Ranma said.  
"Oh my God! What is that?" Naruto pointed, "It's Itachi!"  
Shizune and Ranma instinctively looked at where Naruto was pointing, expecting to see Itachi.  
Naruto lunged forward and grabbed the dagger from Shizune's hand before she had a chance to realize that that had been a ruse. Over the span of one second, Naruto won the exercise and had successfully acquired the dagger.  
"I win!" Naruto shouted, jumping up and down, dagger in his hand, "Yeah! I got the dagger!"  
Shizune looked like she was in a state of disbelief.  
Ranma fell to the floor laughing, holding at his side because it hurt to actually laugh since his ribs were still healing.  
"Hahahahahha, it worked on her! She fell for it!" Ranma laughed between bursts of laughter and pain.  
Shizune couldn't help but feel extremely embarrassed as she looked at her hand and realized she was sans her dagger, Naruto having managed to successfully snatch it out of her hands not once, but twice, even when she was ready for him the second time around.  
"I wouldn't laugh," Naruto snickered at Ranma, "You fell for it, too. I saw you look. You fell for it every bit as easily as Shizune,"  
Ranma flushed with embarrassement, "I did not!"  
Shizune started laughing.  
Naruto and Ranma were two very amusing individuals and she was glad Tsunade assigned her to observe them.  
Ranma squinted as he and the other stood at the edge of a cliff, gazing Northward toward a large body of water in the horizon. Having trekked for several days, waking along a dirt path that travelers traverse and resting at villages they came across or creating camps when there were no nearby village, the group finally came upon a change in scenery.  
It was now late at night, around the time the group usually stopped and broke camp. "That's 'Banishment Peninsula', huh?" Ranma asked, "We're basically at the base of the peninsula, huh?"  
Shizune nodded, "Yes. I think so. We're probably around one day's walk from its border,"  
They found themselves staring out over the body of water located on the Western section of the peninsula. The base of the peninsula was so distant that the didn't see the Eastern body of water despite their high vantage point.  
Ranma looked rather relieved, "That's good to hear. It's been a while before we saw anything more than trees and villages. The change in scenery finally helps show that we're actually making some progress with our travels,"  
"How long ago do you think Itachi and Kisame passed by this point?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma shrugged, "Dunno. We're making good progress but I think we're lagging behind,"  
They believed they were a few days behind Itachi and Kisame. Ranma knew that Itachi and Kisame were headed toward 'Banishment Peninsula'. Unfortunately, he and that group had no real idea just how far ahead the two of them were, what with Ranma having been unconscious for a few days because of his injuries. Because of that, Itachi and Kisame had a few days head-start. That made Ranma worry because that meant Itachi and Kisame might get their hands on the 'Tool of Banishment' before Ranma and his group.  
While Ranma did want to rush ahead to catch up to Itachi and Kisame, he didn't want to leave Naruto and Shizune and Ton-Ton behind. For all he knew, Itachi and Kisame might be behind them. God forbid Itachi find Naruto and Ranma not be around to protect him. Ranma peered down the edge of the cliff they were perched upon and estimated that there was a good hundred and fifty foot vertical drop to the valley below.  
"C'mon, let's go," Ranma said.  
"Um, that's a long way down," Naruto gulped, "What, you expect us to jump from this high?"  
"Don't worry, you'll survive," Ranma grinned, "Of course, I suggest you drop the weighted vest down first before you jump. The force of the weighted vest exerted on your body when you land will probably break your back,"  
Naruto gulped again.  
Ranma patted Naruto's shoulder, grinning, "Don't worry. Just keep calm and you should do alright. Actually, you better keep calm or you're gonna die. Anyway, have a nice fall,"  
"W-what?" Naruto shouted.  
Ranma gave Naruto a shove, shoving him off the cliff.  
"Ahhhhh!" Naruto shouted as he fell down. "Oh my God!" Shizune rushed up to the side, shocked at what Ranma had just done. He had just shoved Naruto over the cliff to his death. She watched as Naruto banged against the side of the cliff and went tumbling head over heal where he crashed down into the ground hard.  
Ranma sighed, shaking his head in disappointment, "Damn, he panicked once again. It's like that incident with the explosive ward,"  
Shizune turned toward Ranma, burning with rage, "You monster! Have you any idea what you did? Naruto can't survive a fall like that?"  
Ranma said, "Don't worry about it. I know what I'm doing. It just happens that Naruto doesn't,"  
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.  
Ranma pointed down the side of the cliff, "Take a look for yourself,"  
Shizune cautiously walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Far down below, she caught sight of Naruto dusting himself as he got up to his feet. He looked a bit shaken from the experience but otherwise fine.  
"I gave him more that enough ki to protect him," Ranma smiled, "When I was patting in on the shoulder, I was feeding him ki. I did so as a precaution should he mess up and not land correctly like he's supposed to. His body is at the level where it can withstand the shock of a crude landing from this height without ki. I just gave him some just in case,"  
"That's cruel what you did to Naruto," Shizune said, narrowing her eyes toward Ranma.  
"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Ranma chuckled.  
Shizune glanced over the cliff and down at Ranma, "Jeez, I can't believe it. He's actually unharmed after a fall like that. Surviving a fall from this height is considered a Hokage-level skill,"  
She gave out a yelp of surprise when she suddenly found herself whisked off her feet as Ranma picked her up into his arm.  
"W-what are you doing?" she asked nervously.  
"I'm gonna jump," Ranma smiled, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I promise,"  
"What? Wait," she said.  
"What?" he asked.  
"I'll get down there myself," Shizune said, "Please, put me down,"  
"Are you sure?" Ranma said, "You'll be fine. Just hold onto me and I'll do the rest," "Still," she seemed skeptic.  
Ranma said, "Look, if you're really uncomfortable with my mode of getting down quickly, then climb down if you want,"  
Shizune thought about that for a moment. She didn't like the thought that she would be slowing the group down if she didn't go along with Ranma's plan. "Are you sure we'll be okay?" she asked.  
"No, we're gonna die," Ranma said sarcastically, "I'm gonna plunge us to our deaths. We're gonna become nothing but large splats on the ground below,"  
Shizune didn't find Ranma's sarcastic tone all that amusing. However, the fact that he found the situation rather amusing made her realize that he was very calm and sure of himself. "Look, I've done this plenty of times," Ranma said in a soft voice, "I've jumped down from higher places carrying several people and landed perfectly fine. You have nothing to worry about, okay?"  
Shizune felt this wave of relief wash over her. Ranma's voice was so reassuring that she could not help but believe his every word.  
"Okay, fine," she said, "Um, what do I do?"  
"Just hold on," Ranma said, freeing up one of his arms to throw her arms around his neck, "And enjoy the ride,"  
"O-okay," she gathered her courage.  
"Away we go," Ranma said.  
Before she had a chance to steel herself of what was to come, Ranma hopped off the cliff. Unable to contain the great sense of panic enveloping her, she shrieked in surprise much like Naruto did as she felt herself suddenly become weightless as they both plummeted toward the ground far below. She felt her heart jump up into her throat, the sensations she was feeling both terrifying and exhilarating. This terrifying sensation lasted for several seconds before it suddenly stopped. Before she knew it, the feeling of weightlessness stopped as Ranma landed softly on the ground at the bottom of the cliff. Of course, even though Ranma was now safely on the ground, Shizune couldn't help but hold onto Ranma tightly, feeling a sense of safety being in his arms.  
"Um, you can let go now," Ranma said after a good minute.  
Shizune didn't let go.  
"C'mon, let go," Ranma said, "You're hurting me,"  
Shizune suddenly realized what she was doing and let go as Ranma placed her down on her feet.  
Ranma winced in pain as he rubbed his shoulder, "Jeez, my back feels like it's on fire. Damn, my back must be bleeding and all from you holding me so tightly. Your fingernails dug right into my skin and probably left behind deep scratches,"  
He turned toward Naruto who seemed to be still in the process of recovering from the frightening experience he had just gone through moments before.  
"Naruto, is my back all messed up?" Ranma asked, turning his back toward Naruto and lifting his shirt.  
Naruto simply nodded, still waiting for the words to come to his mouth so that he could shout angrily at Ranma for scaring him like that.  
"Jeez," Ranma muttered, putting his shirt back down.  
He looked at Shizune and Naruto. They were both all right but a bit disoriented from the experience.  
"You guys okay?" he asked.  
"I think so," Naruto said after a moment. He then started shouted, "Why'd you go and do that to me? That was one of the scariest experience I've ever had!"  
Ranma smiled, "Yeah, but you survived. Y'know how the saying goes, 'Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'. Besides, you were never in danger. I gave you plenty of ki to protect you from the impact, should you panic and mess up landing on your feet like you're supposed to. Unfortunately, that little test I gave you, much like that test with the explosive ward, you failed miserably. You're supposed to keep calm in such situations. If you panic like you did back then and now, only bad things can follow,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"If you don't train your mind, it doesn't really matter how strong your body is," Ranma said, tapping his own temple, "While you have the body to survive such an ordeal, your mind has yet to develop to survive such an ordeal. Try and keep that in mind, that panicking in situations is not the way to go,"  
"I-I understand," Naruto said, "But still, that was so scary,"  
"Of course it's scary," Ranma said, "What, you think it was gonna be easy? Physically, doing something like that's really easy. Mentally, that's a whole 'nother story. It's just like deflecting ki-blasts. If you're mentally ready to deflect a ki-blast, physically doing so is cakewalk,"  
"I understand," Naruto nodded, "I'll try and do better next time,"  
Ranma smiled, "That's good to hear,"  
He turned toward Shizune. She seemed like she had finally recovered from the ordeal.  
"Heh, the same can apply for you," Ranma smirked, "You actually did worse than Naruto,"  
"Look, I've never been through such an experience like that before. Give me a break," Shizune said in annoyance.  
Ranma shrugged, "I guess you have a point,"  
"Hey, where's Ton-Ton?" Naruto asked, looking around for the pig and not seeing it.  
"Oh yeah," Ranma said.  
Ranma cranked his head back and looked skyward toward the top of the cliff.  
"Hey, Ton-Ton! Jump! I'll catch you!" Ranma shouted out toward the top of the cliff.  
Shizune and Naruto looked skyward and caught sight of Ton-Ton's underbelly as the pig did a jumping leap from the cliff high above. Their jaws basically feel toward the ground as they saw Ton-Ton sailing through the air calmly as if it could fly. The pig didn't make any noise as gravity took over and it fell downward, enjoying the freefall all the while.  
Ranma took several steps back, anticipating where Ton-Ton would land and gently caught the pig in his arms.  
"Wow, you're one brave pig," Ranma chuckled warmly before placing Ton-Ton on the ground, petting the top of its head a few times.  
He turned toward Naruto and Shizune. After a second, he broke out laughing.  
It seemed like Ton-Ton's resolve was more unshakable than Naruto's and Shizune's.  
Three days of traveling later, the group came upon a village as it neared evening. The village was welcomed because the group hadn't come across a village in a while. The thought of sleeping in a bed in a hotel instead of on the cold hard ground was very inviting.  
The village was larger than any previous village they had come across, rivaling in size to Hidden Leaf Village. His eyes widened as he saw a large Ferris wheel on the other side of the village.  
"Hey, check it out, a fair," Ranma pointed eagerly, "Let's go have some fun,"  
"What about our hotel?" Shizune asked.  
"We'll get ourselves a hotel first and then go have some fun," Ranma said.  
"Yeah! That sounds like a plan!" Naruto shouted gleefully, the inner child within him surfacing. He was a young boy, afterall. "Hey, does this world have those strength tests?" Ranma asked, "Y'know, the ones where you hit a mallet on a stump and see if you can get it to ring a bell?"  
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, they should have one,"  
"That rocks!" Ranma smirked, "I gotta try one of those things out, "  
"Yeah, that'd be awesome!" Naruto cheered, "You'd probably destroy the machine,"  
Shizune smiled warmly at Ranma. Despite the fact that he was a full grown adult, Ranma sure had a way with children. It was very heartwarming.  
"What?" Ranma asked, "Do I've something on my face?"  
Shizune blushed when she realized she had been staring. Ranma started heading off, "C'mon, let's go get ourselves a hotel,"

Ranma whistled, as he felt a sense of nostalgia "Wow, this carnival's a lot like the kinda carnivals in my world, from when I was young,"  
"This is seems to be one of those traveling carnivals," Shizune said, "You had these on your world?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. It's very nostalgic,"  
Ranma and Shizune and Naruto were walking down a pathway replete with villagers. There were carnival games to either side of them as a long path stretched out in front of them leading to the carnival rides on the other side of the park. On the other end of the carnival, a merry-go-round, a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, and a haunted house could be easily seen.  
Ton-Ton wasn't there, having chosen to be left behind at the hotel where it could sleep in peace.  
"C'mon, let's get some tickets!" Naruto said eagerly, pointing toward the other end of the park, "I wanna go on some rides. Let's go on the roller coaster,"  
"No thanks," Ranma said, "Roller coasters are too exciting for me. I'll stick with the tame stuff,"  
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, "You go jumping off hundred fifty foot cliffs. That's much more scary than going on a roller coaster,"  
"Don't worry, you and Shizune can go on ahead," Ranma said, "I'll hang around down on the ground. I'll go play a few of those games and try and win a prize. Shizune, you can go with Naruto if you want,"  
"Um, I'm not really interested in rides," Shizune said, "I prefer to hang around down on the ground,"  
Naruto said, "But I don't wanna go on rides alone,"  
"Tough," Ranma stuck his tongue out at Naruto, "You ain't my kid. I'm not obligated to sit through stuff with you if I don't like it,"  
Naruto narrowed his eyes.  
"Here's some money for ride tickets," Ranma reached into his pocket and produce a large sum of money and handed it to Naruto. He then made a shooing motion, "Go on ahead and have some fun. We'll meet back here in an hour, okay?"  
"Okay," Naruto said.  
The young boy quickly rushed off, disappearing into the crowd.  
Ranma turned toward Shizune, "Wanna hang out? I'm just gonna play some of the carnival games. You're welcome to tag along if you want,"  
"I guess," she said, not wanting to sound to eager.  
Ranma held a hand out for Shizune to take a hold of. Shizune just looked at it nervously for a moment before she placed her hand in his. She didn't know why she did so in the first place, but Ranma held his hand out to her as if he was expecting her to do as he was expecting and she felt obligated to comply.  
Shizune found herself whisked away as Ranma headed off into the crowd.  
"Let's go," he started walking off, nearly half-dragging Shizune with him.  
After a few minutes, Ranma stopped in front of a carnival game. It was one of those strength games where a person was expected to smash a mallet down on button as hard as possible to send a bearing up a pole in an attempt to ring a bell. If he rang the bell, he could choose a prize from a nearby shelf, most of them stuffed animals.  
"Man, this is gonna be easy," Ranma grinned, "I'm good with strength tests,"  
He walked up to the game attendant, a large man, and gave the guy some money to play. The man gave him a mallet. To Ranma's surprise, he found himself having trouble lifting it.  
"What the?" Ranma asked, "This thing weighs a ton,"  
Shizune giggled. She couldn't bring herself to tell Ranma the meaning of that game. The game wasn't a strength test. It was a game that tested one's chakra ability. Ranma lifted the mallet and slammed it down button, expecting to win. To his surprise, the bearing didn't move up the pole all that much and was far from ringing the bell.  
"What the hell?" Ranma seemed surprised.  
Shizune started laughing.  
"What?" he asked.  
"You're not supposed to use brute strength to ring the bell," Shizune said between giggles, "You're supposed to use chakra to lighten the load of the mallet,"  
"Oh," Ranma said.  
She watched as Ranma paid the guy again and picked up the mallet easily with one hand. This surprised her because most mallets like that required a massive amount of upper body strength as well as large usage of chakra to be lifted. Ranma simply lifted it with ease.  
She knew that even the attendant was surprised to see this because the man's jaw was agape from surprise.  
Ranma slammed the mallet down hard.  
The bearing shot up the pole with vicious force hitting the bell on the top of it so hard that it shot right through the bell, knocking the bell off the pole, the bearing continuing to travel skyward where it disappeared beyond the clouds.  
"Heh, what a joke," Ranma grinned. He turned toward the shocked attendant, "Did I win? Do I get to choose the prize?" "Um, sure," the shocked man said.  
Ranma walked over to the shelf and picked up a stuffed pig and began walking toward Shizune. He smiled happily as he handed it toward Shizune.  
"For me?" she blushed a dark shade of red, "T-thanks,"  
She had never received a gift like that before. It was rather endearing. It made her feel bad for having laughed at him when he failed to win the game the first time around. There were many good qualities to Ranma that she seemed to always forget. Ranma was a nice person if she thought about it.  
"No," Ranma said, "It isn't for you. I just want you to hold it,"  
"What?" Shizune found herself getting angry.  
"It's for Ton-Ton," Ranma said, "I figure the pig might find it amusing. I won it for Ton-Ton, not you," "Fine!" Shizune said angrily, throwing the stuffed pig back at Ranma, "If it's for Ton-Ton, then you hold it,"  
She started walking off, disappearing into the crowd, leaving behind a confused Ranma.  
"What the hell did I do?"  
new stuff 3/24

Ranma wandered the carnival by himself.  
Carrying several stuffed animals under his arm from various skill games he had easily won, he wondered where Naruto and Shizune were. He had a good twenty minutes to kill before he was expected at the scheduled meeting place.  
He found himself annoyed at carrying so many stuffed animals. Why did he have to be so good at skill games, games that required speed or aim or strength or reflexes?  
"Hm, I better put these back at the hotel," he said, figuring he had plenty of time to drop the stuffed animals off and get back to the meeting place.  
Heading in the direction of the hotel, slowly maneuvering his way through the crowd of people wandering around, Ranma accidentally bumped into someone.  
"Sorry," he said, turning toward the person and bowing politely.  
To his surprise, he recognized the person he had bumped it to.  
It was one of the gorgeous triplets from a few town back. She was with her two sisters. He remembered them from the time they stumbled into a hotel lobby rather inebriated from too much alcohol consumption and hitting on him. He had been in the lobby at the time when they had stumbled in.  
"Hey, I know you," Ranma said.  
The triplets looked at Ranma, not recognizing the man momentarily. They barely remembered that night they bumped into Ranma. Used to being approached by men all the time and having to fend them off, they were weary of pick-up lines men attempted on them.  
"And where might that be?" one of them asked, smirking, figuring they might as well have some fun and see how good a game the man before them could bring to the table.  
Ranma said, gesturing toward the three of them, "You're those alcoholic triplets,"  
"What?" the triplets said in unison, surprised at the comment.  
"What a surprise meeting you three here?" Ranma said, "I guess it's a small world,"  
"How did we meet?" they asked, their interests piqued.  
Ranma's attention seemed to wander off as he caught a glimpse of the color orange, the color of Naruto's outfit, among the crowd. This surprised the triplets because they were used to a guy's full attention being on them.  
He turned toward the triplets, "Sorry, but I can't talk. It was nice bumping into you though,"  
Before any of the triplets had a chance to ask any more questions as to exactly how he knew them, seriously intrigued by who Ranma was, Ranma started walking off, disappearing into the crowd.  
Ranma made his way through the crowd, heading in the direction of the orange blur making its way through the crowd around twenty feet in front of him. The fact that Ranma was carrying arms full of stuffed animals made maneuvering a bit difficult.  
When Ranma finally got to the orange blur, he stopped suddenly when he realized that it wasn't Naruto. It happened to be a young kid wearing an orange vest as he tried to wait on line for the Ferris wheel.  
"Damn, it isn't him," Ranma said, a bit disappointed. He figured if he found Naruto, he could ask him to bring the stuffed animals back to the hotel, disguising it as some kind form of training. He could imbue the stuffed animals with an exorbitant amount of ki to make them incredibly heavy and say it's a strength test for the young boy.  
Ranma chuckled. Could he possibly be that lazy that he actually enjoyed having Naruto around doing most of the heavy work like carrying the camp equipment and such? Then again, if he thought about it, Naruto liked doing heavy lifting because it truly made him stronger.  
He ended up staggering forward a few steps when someone bumped into him from behind. He turned around toward the person and found himself staring at the triplets again. They had followed him into the crowd and ended up bumping into him when he stopped suddenly.  
The three of them gave him a rather apologetic look.  
"Excuse you," Ranma said, realizing they weren't going to apologize.  
"Oh, sorry," one of them said. She had been the one that didn't stop in time and ended up bumping into Ranma.  
"Are you following me?" Ranma smirked.  
"No," one of them blushed, "We were merely curious,"  
"About what?" he asked.  
"About how we met," another one asked.  
"We met at a hotel," Ranma said, "I was in the lobby when you girls came into the lobby all drunk and such. That's all. It's no big deal,"  
Ranma turned his attention upward toward the Ferris wheel. It looked a lot bigger up close, bigger than he had originally anticipated. "I remember you," one of them said, "Yes, at the hotel several days ago. You were standing by the counter and stepped to the side when we were basically stumbling in,"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, that was me,"  
He looked back up at the Ferris wheel.  
Hm, that sounds like a good idea, thought to himself. I can get a good view of the land at the top of the wheel.  
"You plan on going on the Ferris wheel?" one asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "I don't have a ticket though. Gotta go get one,"  
"We have tickets," they said. One of them reached into their pockets and produced a ride ticket, "Here, you can take this one. We all have extra. We can all go up together,"  
"Okay," Ranma fished in his pocket for some money while still holding the stuffed animals. When he found the amount he was looking for, he held it out for girl as he took the ticket from her, "Here y'go,"  
"Don't worry about it," the girl didn't' accept the money, "It's okay,"  
Ranma looked at the ticket in his hand.  
"You girls wanna go up with me?" he asked, feeling obligated to invite them along even though he was indifferent to whether or not they accepted.  
"Sure, that sounds like fun," one of them said.  
"What's your name?" another one asked.  
"Ranma," he said, "And yours?"  
The three girls introduced themselves. What Ranma found very odd was that despite the fact that they were triplets, they had very dissimilar names. They waited on the line together and made some quick chit chat. He noticed that they didn't talk at the same time but each individual talked much like the other. It was as if each twin could read each other's mind and knew exactly when to talk and not end up talking at the same time. He found himself constantly changing his attention from one to another to another.  
"So, what's with those stuffed animals?" one of them asked curiously.  
"I won 'em," Ranma said proudly, "I don't exactly know what I'm gonna do with 'em since I have no intention carrying stuffed animals with me on my journey,"  
"What kind of journey?" they asked.  
Ranma gestured Northward, "North, toward the peninsula's northern-most point. There's something I gotta do,"  
"What?" they asked curiously.  
"Don't worry about it," he said, not caring to go into detail about it. Because he was merely lazy and didn't want to talk about his journey, the triplets found Ranma rather intriguing in a mysterious way.  
"C'mon, you can tell us," they said.  
Ranma said, "Nope,"  
"Let me guess, you're pretending to be all mysterious to intrigue us, aren't you?" they smirked, used to games.  
"Nope," Ranma said.  
The way Ranma said it made them realize that Ranma seemed to be speaking the truth. From the way he answered that comment, it seemed like he didn't want to tell them because he didn't feel like it, not because he was trying to act mysterious to pique their attention.  
There was a moment of awkward silence, the girls finding themselves unable to think of what to say, never having been in a situation like this before. Used to men constantly hitting on them and aware of their true intentions, get in their pants in one way or another, they were unused to someone so indifferent. "Ranma," came a voice.  
Ranma and the triplets turned around and found himself looking at Shizune. Shizune had spotted Ranma among the crowd a short while ago and had wanted to apologize to him about getting angry at him. It was wrong of her to assume that he would've given her that prize. When she spotted Ranma talking to the triplets, she couldn't help but feel this great sense of jealousy.  
"Ah, Shizune, there you are," Ranma said, smiling warmly, "I was wondering where you were,"  
"Oh?" Shizune asked coldly, "It seems like you're a bit preoccupied and that's the last thing that's on your mind,"  
"Huh?" Ranma asked.  
"You know what I mean," Shizune said angrily.  
"No, I don't," Ranma said innocently.  
Shizune turned around and stormed off as Ranma watched her in confusion.  
He scratched his head.  
"What the heck just happened?"

Ranma approached the meeting place at the expected time he had indicated an hour ago. Naruto wasn't there at the moment. Ranma found Shizune there. Shizune didn't looked a bit annoyed at Ranma for some reason but it didn't really bother him, he used to it. It seemed like he had a knack of mysteriously making women angry at him and had long ago given up trying to understand them.  
Ranma was without the stuffed animals, having dropped them off at the hotel after he had gone on the Ferris wheel with the triplets. The triplets weren't with him, Ranma having excused himself to meet up with Shizune and Naruto.  
"You're not even going to ask us for our number?" they asked in surprise.  
"Nope," Ranma said, "Anyway, it was nice meeting you three. See you around,"  
The triplets simply stood there, in a state of shock at having been brushed off by the one man they had ever come across that they seemed to have a genuine interest getting to know better as Ranma walked off, disappearing into the crowd.  
"Have fun on the Ferris wheel?" Shizune asked in a cold tone.  
"Yep," Ranma answered.  
"With those three girls?" she asked wryly.  
"Yeah, we went on the ride together," he said.  
"You what?" Shizune said in surprise. Ranma nodded, "Yeah,"  
"So where are those girls now?" she asked, still annoyed.  
Ranma shrugged, "How the hell should I know? I left them to meet you,"  
"Y-you did?" she was surprised to hear that.  
"And Naruto also," Ranma said, "And speaking of which, where is that kid? We were supposed to meet here. He's late,"  
"He's probably too caught up having fun," Shizune stated.  
"I guess," Ranma said, "I hope he doesn't take too long. I don't wanna wait. So, where'd you go before?"  
Shizune was silent for a moment, "No where,"  
"Oh, okay," Ranma said, "It's just that it was kinda strange that you suddenly walked off like that. We could've gone on a few rides together,"  
"R-really?" she said.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I probably would've enjoyed going on the Ferris wheel with you instead of those triplets because they kept hitting on me and it was getting annoying,"  
Shizune said nothing, feeling like she could have had a fun time had she not overreacted to what she thought.  
"Ranma-niisan! Shizune-san!" came Naruto's voice, as the young boy could be seen maneuvering his way through the people walking about to reach Ranma and Naruto, "I've got some bad news,"  
"Naruto, glad you can join us, I like your punctuality," Ranma said sarcastically with a smirk.  
Naruto gave a sheepish smile, "I'm sorry, but I was tied up following someone,"  
"Whatcha talking about?" Ranma asked, "And what's this bad news you're speaking of?"  
"I saw Itachi and Kisame. I was following them. That's why I'm late," Naruto said, "There's here, in this very village,"  
Ranma was surprised to hear that since he didn't sense Itachi at all, "What? Itachi's here?"  
Naruto nodded.  
"Yeah, they're both here,"

new stuff 3/27

Ranma crouched low on a rooftop as he glanced over the edge and toward the street down below.

To his surprise, Naruto was right. Itachi and Kisame were walking down the street together. Pedestrians could be seen getting out of the way of the two, all of them aware that there was something dangerous to the young man and not wanting to cross his path to find out.  
"Well I'll be," Ranma said, "There they are," Naruto and Shizune were also on the rooftop with him, both feeling a great sense of nervousness. While the both of them had not witnessed the actual fight between Itachi and Ranma, the fact that Ranma acknowledged Itachi as a formidable opponent meant Itachi should be feared.  
"I think I should remove the vest," Naruto said nervously, "What if we need to get away really fast? I can't run fast with all that weight on me,"  
Ranma shook his head, "Don't bother. The vest actually provides your protection. Even without the vest, Itachi's fast enough to catch you. At least with the vest, it'll provide you quite a bit of protection. Heck, that's how I managed to get the better of Itachi and Kisame, because you had that vest on while unconscious so I didn't really hafta worry all that much about hurting you.  
Naruto looked down at Ranma's forearms and noticed they were bare, Ranma no longer wearing bracers.  
"Itachi's good enough that I feel I need to remove my bracers," Ranma answered Naruto's question before he asked, "I hid them by a dumpster and will get them after all of this. It's kinda overkill, but I don't wanna hafta go through a battle similar to our previous one again,"  
"What do you mean by overkill?" Shizune asked.  
"My individual bracers weigh more than twice Naruto's vest," Ranma said, "And I have two of 'em. The only people I've ever fought where I needed to remove my bracers is when I fight Ryoga. I'm just giving myself the necessary edge should we end up fighting. Afterall, I have no idea how Itachi's gonna react to my proposal to have him accompany me back to my world,"  
"Most likely unfavorable," Shizune stated.  
Ranma nodded, "I know. Most likely. But it doesn't hurt to try,"  
"How come you didn't sense Itachi?" Naruto asked curiously, "I thought you can sense Itachi before he can get in close to us,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "I really dunno,"  
"Can you sense him now now that you're basically looking at him?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma shook his head, "No. Not at all. I don't sense that aura he gives off. It's as if he doesn't even have one anymore,"  
"Like what kind of aura?" Shizune asked, "As in some kind of aura of killer intent?"  
Ranma said, "It's hard to describe. It's an aura I can sense. I can't really describe it. I can simply sense it from everyone, especially someone with an aura as powerful as Itachi's. However, it's as if Itachi's aura is gone. There's no more pervasive aura of danger and strength to him, as if he's harmless,"  
Ranma's eyes widened in surprised. "Oh, I get it," Ranma said, "Itachi knows how to draw in ki,"  
"What do you mean?" Shizune asked.  
"I've been teaching this to Naruto in depth," Ranma said, "Anyway, there are two kinds of ki, inner and outer. On this world, everyone seems to exclusively use inner ki, where they rely on the ki within their bodies, drawing the ki out when they need it. And when you draw out too much, you get tired and need to rest to replenish,"  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward Naruto.  
"While people on this world only know how to draw ki out from within, Naruto's probably one of the first people that can do it both ways, drawing it from within and from without," Ranma stated, "Now, because Itachi has that Sharingan ability and can learn and acquire techniques just on observing, it seems Itachi's now aware of how to draw ki from his surroundings,"  
Naruto said, "Oh, if that's the case, that's probably why you can't sense him, huh? Because Itachi no longer has come kinda chakra reserve since he can readily access it from his surroundings?"  
Ranma nodded, "That's right,"  
"Wait, if being able to draw in chakra from your surroundings is more powerful than drawing it out from within yourself, shouldn't you be able to sense Itachi easier?" Naruto asked.  
"Well, yeah, but I wasn't particularly looking around for that," Ranma said, "I was simply trying to sense the inner ki within him. Since he doesn't seem to need it now that he knows how to draw in ki, it seems like he's abandoned inner ki altogether in exchange for his new found knowledge of drawing it in from his surrounds,"  
Naruto seemed nervous, "Um, what does that mean?"  
Ranma grinned, "Exactly what you think it means. It seems like Itachi's Sharingan ability and our recent encounters has seriously beefed Itachi up. Now that we've crossed paths, he now knows a few of my favored techniques as well as the ability to draw in ki from around him,"  
Shizune and Naruto looked very nervous hearing those statements.  
"That must mean Itachi's even more powerful and dangerous than ever before," Naruto said loudly.  
Ranma smirked, "Of course. He didn't know ki-blasts and such the first two times we fought. The third time around, he knew all the techniques I knew and had used against him in the previous two encounters. Man, thank goodness I didn't fight in the Neko-ken stance. Things would definitely get ugly if we hafta fight yet again a fourth time around in the future,"  
"Neko-ken stance?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma said, "A fighting stance. Anyway, now's not the time to be discussing such things anyway. Now that I know what's going on, it'll be easy to sense him again since I now hafta try and sense someone around able to draw in ki,"  
"Is that hard?" Naruto asked. Ranma shook his head, "Not really. I only missed him because I wasn't trying to find someone capable of drawing in ki. It's kinda like me being on the lookout for someone that's wearing a white shirt and suddenly finding out that the person switched to a black shirt in the meanwhile. It's not much of a change but it is a change nonetheless and I'm not worried about it,"  
Shizune looked relieved, "That's good to hear. That means he can't sneak up on us?"  
"Well, yeah, he can," Ranma said, "I'm not on the lookout for him all the time. Sometimes I forget about him completely. He can sneak up on me if I'm doing something like sleeping or preoccupied with something else. Think of it as listening for a particular noise that you can easily hear when you're listening to it. However, if you're busy doing something like talking to someone or such, you can miss it. Of course, that's just an analogy,"  
"Okay, now that we know where Itachi is, what are we going to do?" Naruto asked, "Should we avoid him? You said he was on his way to the temple on 'Banishment Peninsula' as well. If he's showing up here around now, that means he's been behind us all this time,"  
"You don't think he's been following us, do you?" Shizune asked, a bit concerned, "Perhaps he's been following us all this time and somehow lost us among the crowd,"  
Ranma shook his head, "I don't think so. If he's been following us, Naruto wouldn't be here with us when we split up,"  
Naruto gulped.  
"Keep in mind that Itachi isn't aware that I know where he's headed," Ranma said, "They're probably on their way there as we and we just happened to have spotted Itachi and Kisame before they spotted us,"  
"Well, considering you were knocked out for a few days after your last fight, you figure the two of them will be a few days ahead of us since they're headed to the same location as we are," Shizune said, "What do you think happened to them that slowed down their journey so that we can catch up to them?" Ranma said, "I'm not too sure. Considering how hard I hit the both of 'em, the shouldn'tve been knocked out for more than several hours at most. I'll find out right now,"  
"How?" Shizune asked.  
"Wait here," Ranma said to Shizune and Naruto, "I'm gonna go talk to Itachi,"  
"What?" their eye widened in surprise.  
"Just wait here," Ranma said, "I'll be right back,"  
With that said, Ranma hopped off the roof and landed on the street down below, heading in the general direction where Itachi and Kisame where.

new stuff 3/31

Itachi and Kisame were minding their own business, Kisame making it known that he wanted people to mind their own business whenever they happen to be glancing in their direction, curious as to who the large man was.  
"What are you staring at?" he could be heard sneering.  
Itachi found his associate a bit annoying. While his associate was a strong fighter, the fact that he lost quite easily to Ranma annoyed Itachi to no end. Also, the fact that Kisame's true power lies in his sword and he no longer had his sword meant he was nothing more than dead weight.  
While skilled in hand-to-hand combat, Kisame's main skill was swordsmanship. If he were to fight against someone in hand-to-hand combat, he would find himself in trouble, especially if his opponent used weapons freely. From Itachi's point of view, an unarmed Kisame wasn't all that powerful a fighter.  
"We're way behind," Kisame said, "I figure we would've reached 'Banishment Peninsula' a couple days ago had you not taken that detour,"  
"My detour is my own business," Itachi said coldly.  
"What kind of training were you doing? Does it have anything to do with those projectiles you can shoot?" Kisame asked curiously.  
Itachi held a hand in front of him and looked at his hand as it started glowing.  
"That's none of your business," Itachi said coldly.  
Kisame was an associate to Itachi and not much more. He could care less if his associate ended up getting killed or even kill him himself if need be. Kisame didn't need to know whether or not Itachi knew how to gather ki from his surroundings.  
Itachi, shortly after having woken up after being defeated by Ranma, had taken a couple of days to train by himself. During his encounters with Ranma, he had found out the science behind shooting ki-blasts. The problem was that he didn't know how to use those ki-blasts without resorting his Sharingan ability to draw in the necessary ki to do so.  
He had spent a couple of days teaching himself how to draw in ki from his surroundings. That way, he did not have to resort to his Sharingan ability to draw in the ki for him. He could draw it in himself and free up his Sharingan abilities for other uses. After a couple days of intense training and countless failures, Itachi finally started to understand the science behind drawing in the necessary ki to produce a powerful ki-blast. To be able to shoot a ki-blast without the use of the Sharingan ability gave Itachi an edge he never believed. However, despite this edge, there seemed to be some weaknesses to it. He was only skilled enough to shoot one a minute, it taking him that long to draw in the necessary ki from his surroundings to shoot another one. A minute was way too long a gap between shooting ki-blasts if he did not use the Sharingan ability. Of course, he could always resort to using the Sharingan ability to defeat this weakness, but therein exposes another weakness, him having to dedicate his Sharingan ability to drawing the necessary ki to shoot a ki-blast. Kisame knew none of this, Itachi not caring to let Kisame know of Itachi's full abilities. Living the past that he did, Itachi trusted no one but himself. Sure, Kisame joined the Akatsuki only recently and are unaware of Itachi and his own agendas, but that doesn't mean that Itachi knew Kisame well enough. At the current moment, Kisame believed they were headed toward the temple to forcefully retrieve the 'Tool of Banishment' to use against Ranma and that was what Itachi wanted. When Itachi decided to use it on the Akatsuki instead, the fact that Kisame didn't know of Itachi's ki-blast weakness meant that weakness can not be exploited.  
"It's a shame we lost the little brat," Kisame said from out of the blue, "That damn bodyguard of his,"  
Itachi smirked, "The 'Tool of Banishment' should get rid of him easily,"  
"Hopefully," Kisame smirked.  
"This task of retrieving Naruto is turning out to be very bothersome," Kisame muttered, "It should not have been this hard. All we were supposed to do is go to Hidden Leaf Village and retrieve him and be off. That guy Naruto is with is so damn powerful,"  
Itachi said nothing. Kisame had a very good point. Ranma was so powerful that it opened up Itachi's eyes. His encounters with Ranma had opened up new options for him. Instead of having to get Naruto and harness the power of the Nine-Tails within the young boy for himself, Itachi now had the option of trying to attain the 'Tool of Banishment' as well. There was also a third option, to continuously encounter and fight Ranma and learn all that he could from him, to use the Sharingan ability to acquire all the techniques that Ranma knows for his own. Of course, that option was the most dangerous and painful one.  
On all three encounters with Ranma, Itachi and Kisame lived afterwards. As S-  
Class criminals, Ranma would be doing the world a favor killing the two of them on all three occasion. There should be absolutely no reason why Ranma would let him live. But alas, he let them live. Why? And how many more encounters would it be before Ranma finally got fed up with dealing with the two of them and kill them simply out of convenience.  
That last encounter should have left an impression on Ranma. Because Ranma knew of Itachi's exponential growth, and all because of the previous encounters, Itachi was pretty sure he knew how Ranma would think. If Itachi continued to grow at the rate he grew, Ranma would be forced to kill him out of fear that Itachi will grow stronger than him. If he thought about it, his driving need to kill Ranma seemed to have slowly started to abate. He had initially wanted to kill Ranma to get to Naruto. He didn't even hold feelings of animosity toward Ranma after Ranma had defeated him on a few occasions. Kisame, on the other hand, held great animosity toward Ranma, animosity so great it was almost tangible.  
Itachi couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they met again. "Fancy meeting you here," came a voice from behind them.  
Itachi and Kisame whirled around to face the voice, surprised at how close someone got to them despite them keeping vigil of their surroundings. Afterall, for all the know, some would-be bounty hunters might have recognized them and wanted to kill them to collect the bounty on their heads.  
Ranma smiled at Itachi and Kisame as the two of them seemed to have a look of surprise.  
"You!" Kisame shouted, becoming instantly furious.  
Ranma held his hands up defensively and took a step back, "Hold up. I'm not here for a fight,"  
"I don't care!" Kisame sneered, baring his teeth.  
"Step off!" Ranma said coldly, stepping forward to challenge Kisame, "I'm not here to fight!"  
Itachi noticed how Kisame took a tentative step backwards. Ranma, while smaller than him, had a presence to himself that made him seem so much larger. That had surprised Kisame.  
"I'm not here to fight," Ranma said rather impatiently to Kisame, "All this crap with you having beef against me is starting to really annoy me. You lost. Get over with. Dwelling on it sounds rather petty if you ask me,"  
"Hmph!" Kisame muttered. He glanced in the general direction of Itachi, waiting for Itachi to take the lead. If Itachi attacked, so would Kisame. If he exercised restraint, Kisame would do the same as well.  
Itachi glanced past Ranma and noticed he was alone.  
"They're somewhere around," Ranma answered Itachi's unasked question, "Of course, you ain't gonna find out from me exactly where. And even if you did, don't think I'll just sit around and let you go after them,"  
"Why are you here?" Itachi asked, narrowing his eyes at Ranma. The world was very large and it seemed very odd that they kept bumping into one another. The two of them weren't even looking for Ranma then, having decided to check out the explosion merely out of curiosity, and wasn't looking for him just now.  
"We happen to've been in the same town together," Ranma said, "I happen to've noticed you two and decided to stop by and say hi,"  
Itachi and Kisame didn't seem all that amused by that answer, Kisame much less.  
"It's funny that we bumped into one another here," Ranma said, "I've been wanting to talk to you about something,"  
"Oh?" Itachi asked, his curiosity somewhat piqued, "About what?"  
He was curious if Ranma wanted stop and negotiate, perhaps talk out an agreement. Not completely unreasonable unless it was necessary, Itachi felt willing to listen to what Ranma had to offer.  
"Alone," Ranma said, "For your ears only. We don't need your friend listening in,"  
"What?" Kisame seemed offended at the statement.  
"Just wait here," Itachi said to Kisame, "I'll be right back,"  
"Fine," Kisame reluctantly agreed.  
Ranma regarded Kisame for a moment. He found it rather odd that Kisame would readily agree. It took him a moment to realize Kisame's plan.  
"Don't think of going out looking for Naruto," Ranma said, "Just because Itachi'll be with me, that doesn't mean you'll be able to find 'em while I'm not around 'em,"  
"We'll see," Kisame smirked, seeing that as a challenge. It seemed like there was no reason to be discreet since Ranma was already aware of what was going on and Kisame's plans.  
Ranma shrugged, unperturbed, "Go right ahead,"  
He knew he didn't have much to worry about. Naruto had come along so much in his development that Kisame would be no match for him. Kisame without his sword wasn't all that bothersome an opponent.  
Ranma turned toward Itachi, "C'mon, let's go get something to eat. We can talk while we eat,"  
Itachi looked at Ranma oddly. It was weird how Ranma, a mere boy around ten years Itachi's junior, spoke to Itachi like Itachi was a mere boy compared to him. Of course, this seemed odd to Itachi because he didn't know all that much about Ranma. Aside from that brief introduction they he had made where Ranma told him his name, he knew nothing else about him outside the fact that he and Naruto seemed to travel together and that he seemed protective of the young boy.  
"There's some interesting things I wanna talk to you about," Ranma said, "Believe me, you'll be in for a surprise,"  
Itachi regarded Ranma for a moment.  
"Very well, I'll humor you and come along,"  
Naruto approached Shizune when Shizune thought she was alone.  
She had been standing near a tree, releasing a bird from her hands where it took to the skies, flying in a southern direction. She had been so caught up in what she had been doing that she didn't realize Naruto had snuck up on her until he made his presence known.  
After Ranma had left to approach Itachi, Shizune and Naruto had stayed a good distance away, keeping to the shadows of the rooftop to observe. After a while, they lost sight of Itachi and Kisame and Ranma but there weren't worried. They didn't believe they were in any danger. Ranma had asked them to simply wait on the rooftop for him to return and they truly believed he will. The fact that Ranma knew where they would be waiting meant he knew exactly where to find them should Itachi and Kisame decide to not listen to Ranma any more to go looking for Naruto.  
While they had been waiting around, Shizune had excused herself for a short while but never said what the reason was. Naruto simply assumed she needed to use the bathroom. When she didn't come back after a half an hour, an amount of time far longer than needed for a bathroom break, Naruto started getting worried.  
He had went out looking for her, leaving behind a some scratches on the portion of the rooftop where he had been waiting for her. It had said 'I went looking for you. Will be back within ten minutes'. That way, should Shizune show back up while he was gone, she would know to wait for him to come back.  
Naruto had spotted Shizune in a park located a short distance from where Naruto had been waiting. "Whatcha doing?" Naruto asked curiously. "N-Naruto!" Shizune said, startled.  
Naruto looked up into the sky toward her the bird flying away, "What's with the bird?"  
"Nothing," she lied, "I was feeding a bird, that's all,"  
"Sure, whatever you say," Naruto wasn't convinced, "If you were feeding a bird, then how come there is only one bird flying away and not many? I see other birds nearby and it's strange that they wouldn't be interested in free feed. And besides, what do you have to feed birds anyway? It looks like you were sending some kinda carrier pigeon somewhere to deliver a message?"  
Shizune said nothing for a moment, surprised that Naruto was definitely a lot more perceptive than she anticipated. It seemed like Ranma's sense of perception was rubbing off on him.  
"I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you," Shizune said, "I've been constantly sending back messages to Tsunade to help her keep tabs on our current situation. Keep in mind I do have a mission, to keep tabs on you and such, and I'm doing just that,"  
"Wait, you send messages to Tsunade about our whereabouts and what we're doing and such to Tsunade?" Naruto was surprised to hear that.  
Shizune said, "It's not hurting anyone. I've been sending messages back every day or whenever a major event happens,"  
"How come?" Naruto asked.  
Shizune said, "She wants to keep tabs one what we are doing,"  
"What, is she nosy?" Naruto asked.  
"I can't believe you would say something like that," Shizune said, "She's our new Hokage. You shouldn't speak about her like that,"  
"Um, to others, she may seem like the new Hokage, but to me, she's some woman with a gambling problem," Naruto said bluntly.  
Shizune chuckled slightly, "Okay, she may have her vices, but she's still the Hokage nonetheless,"  
"Okay, but still, there's really no need for her to know what we are up to," Naruto said.  
"Actually, there is," Shizune said, "If it weren't for her, Ranma would not be aware of the 'Tool of Banishment' and wouldn't be on the lookout for it. Because of this, she wants to keep tabs on your progress,"  
"Oh," Naruto said, "I guess that couldn't hurt,"  
Naruto asked, "Well, now that you're done doing what you're doing, we should head back and wait for Ranma. He should be getting back soon,"  
"You're right. Let's get going," Shizune said.  
Naruto and Shizune turned around to head back to the meeting place and were surprised when they saw a familiar looking man walking across the grass hading directly toward them.  
"Oh man, it's Kisame," Naruto couldn't help but feel a sense of nervousness. He couldn't believe that Kisame had somehow found them. It was a large town and the chances of them bumping into one another, even on a purely accidental aspect, was extremely slim.  
Kisame was alone which made them feel somewhat better. That meant Ranma was somewhere with Itachi so they didn't have to worry about Itachi since he was the one to truly worry about. "That orange outfit or yours sticks out like a sore thumb," Kisame smirked at Naruto, "It seems like it was a lot easier finding you than I thought,"  
Kisame, rather than wait around for Itachi and Ranma to finish talking about whatever the heck they were talking about, had decided to go out looking for Naruto. Afterall, if Ranma was around, Naruto shouldn't be all that far off. To his surprise, his assumptions were correct.  
"We don't wish to fight," Shizune said, brandishing a dagger, "But if we must, we will,"  
Kisame laughed, "You don't scare me. Without your precious bodyguard to protect you, you're easy pickings,"  
"You don't scare us either," Naruto tried to hold his ground, trying not to show his nervousness, "Without your precious sword, it'll be easier said than done,"  
"Che," Kisame sneered coldly, "You really think I need a sword to deal with the two of you? Don't make me laugh,"  
Naruto smirked, "I don't even see why you're still after me,"  
"Oh?" Kisame asked, "And what makes you think that?"  
"You don't need me anymore," Naruto said.  
"That's right," Shizune said, "Now that Itachi is really powerful, he will be able to destroy the Akatsuki organization and avenge his parents' death,"  
"What are you talking about?" Kisame asked, confused.  
Naruto said, "Yeah, dontcha know? That same organization you and Itachi are a part of also killed Itachi's own parents. It's only a matter of time before Itachi becomes powerful enough to avenge their deaths and take down the whole organization single-handedly,"  
"You don't know what you're talking about," Kisame stated, "For your information, Itachi murdered his own parents,"  
"That's what you think," Naruto laughed, "In case you didn't know, Itachi visited his parents' grave site a few days ago. We actually saw you two there but quietly snuck away afterwards to avoid detection. Now, I ask you this, if Itachi killed his parents, then why would he show them some form of respect like visiting their grave?"  
Kisame said nothing for a moment.  
"The site wasn't a gravesite to his parents," Kisame said, "It was to an old friend of his from long ago. He was there merely to pay some respect,"  
That couldn't be true, that the site was for Itachi's parents. He was pretty sure the gravesites was meant for Itachi's friend. While Itachi wasn't all that good a person at heart, he wasn't some monster either. Itachi had merely been paying an old friend some respect, a friend from his childhood days, since they happened to be passing by the village on their journey. Itachi had told Kisame that when Kisame had questioned whose site it was and he believed the young man also. Kisame had believed Itachi because, while Itachi was a private person, Kisame never found Itachi to have any reasons to lie. They were a team, basically partners in crime. While Kisame would not necessarily call Itachi a friend and vice versa, they both knew "Well, it seems like you don't really know Itachi all that well, huh?" Naruto asked, grinning.  
"I don't believe you," Kisame said.  
Naruto seemed confident in what he knew over what Kisame knew.  
"We don't care. We know the truth so it doesn't matter whether or not you believe us,"

new stuff 4/1

"I'm a person much like yourself actually," Ranma said as he ate a dumpling on his plate, "There are things to me that, to this day, no one knows,"  
Ranma and Itachi were in some random restaurant, their meals ordered.  
"Oh, and what makes you think you and I are alike?" Itachi seemed amused at the comment. He found himself a bit curious as to when Ranma would get to the point and start talking about why he really wanted the two of them to speak.  
"My parents were murdered by an evil organization," Ranma answered.  
Itachi was silent for a moment, the pupils of his eyes moving toward the top right corner of his eyes. Ranma, being very perceptive, noticed as a sign that Itachi was remembering something. It was a form of body language that could not be hidden since it was on a purely subconscious level.  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Itachi said flatly, "I guess you really don't know me,"  
"Just hear me out and then you decide," Ranma said, continuing to eat, "I'm getting to the point of why I'm really talking to ya in the first place,"  
Itachi crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Go on,"  
"My friends and family were killed decades ago, when I was young," Ranma said.  
"Decades ago? You look no older than sixteen," Itachi said, "You used a forbidden technique to keep yourself eternally young?"  
Ranma was surprised to hear that, "You can do that on this world? I never knew that. Anyway, that's not important. I'm not as young as I look. Mentally, I'm over a hundred. I've actually forgotten my exact age. Physically, I'm sixteen,"  
"So you're an old man in a boy's body," Itachi stated, unimpressed, "So what?"  
Ranma smiled, "It doesn't really matter. It'll take too long to explain to you my life story. I'll just tell you the things that are important, to show you that we are a lot alike than you actually think,"  
"So get to the point," Itachi said impatiently.  
"Much like your own parents, mine were murdered as well," Ranma began again, "They were murdered by an evil corporation called Genom,"  
"I don't see how that makes us alike," Itachi said, "I killed my own parents,"  
Ranma smirked, "I'm sure you did,"  
Itachi noticed that Ranma didn't believe him one bit.  
"I know you didn't kill your own parents," Ranma said, "I know about you and how the Akatsuki organization, the same organization you're a part of, were the ones that murdered them,"  
Itachi acted nonchalant, as if those words meant nothing to him, as if what Ranma was spouting were just gibberish.  
"Don't play coy," Ranma said, pointing toward his own eyes, "I can see all the way into your soul if I make eye contact with you. There's no hiding the truth from me. You being 'evil' is nothing but a ruse, to deflect the Akatsuki organization's suspicion that you were on to their plan to exploit your Sharingan ability,"  
Itachi laughed, "All lies,"  
"All right," Ranma smirked, getting up out of his seat, "If what I'm trying to tell you are all lies, I guess you don't want to listen to me. I guess it's best I get going. Since you don't believe in what I'm saying, there's no need for us to talk,"  
Itachi's lips became a thin line as he watched Ranma throw some money on the table to pay for his meal.  
"I don't like dilly dallying about," Ranma stated, "I'm not obligated to do anything for you. If you don't wanna hear what I have to say, it ain't any skin off my back,"  
Ranma turned around and started walking away.  
"Wait," Itachi called out.  
Ranma turned around to face Itachi, "Hm?"  
Itachi gestured toward the seat, "Sit down, I'd like to hear more,"  
Ranma sat down.  
"If you know so much about me, tell me something about my past, tell me what I already know," Itachi smirked. Only two people knew that Itachi had found out about the Akatsuki organization's plan to exploit his and Sasuke's Sharingan abilities. Those two people were the fake parents that had replaced his real parents after his real parents had been murdered and they were dead.  
"Your real parents were murdered," Ranma said, "They were replaced. You found out and murdered the two people that replaced 'em. To avoid suspicion from the Akatsuki organization that you know of their plans, you pretend you're a variable the organization never anticipated, that you turned grew up to be a murderer. You never told your bother of this because it will help further convince the organization that you didn't know of their secret agenda. Afterall, if Sasuke hates you for killing your 'parents', it means you never told him the truth to get him off your back, which leads the organization to believe you never knew the truth in the first place,"  
"H-how do you know all of this?" Itachi had to ask.  
"Like I said, I can read into your mind," Ranma said, "Sure, it's an invasion of one's privacy, but considering the fact that you're trying to kidnap Naruto and kill me, it's understandable,"  
"So, now that you know of this, what do you intend to do?" Itachi asked.  
"It's up to you," Ranma said, "If you want my help, I'll help out,"  
"How?" he asked.  
Ranma said, "It's not the kinda help you think it is. I have no intention of helping you get revenge for your parents' murder or such. I don't condone killing, but frankly, I can also understand where you're coming from,"  
"Get to the point," Itachi said.  
"I know you have two agendas," Ranma said, "I know you first want to seek revenge on your parents' murder. I also know you wanna resurrect your parents after you get rid of the Akatsuki organization. Of course, getting your hands on Naruto and harnessing the power of the Nine-Tails sealed within him kinda makes both achievable," Itachi's silence meant Ranma knew what he was talking about.  
"I'm up to helping you realize that one of your goals is wrong," Ranma said.  
"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.  
Ranma said, "I'm willing to help convince you to give up your quest to resurrecting your parents. Y'see, resurrecting your parents is wrong in every way. Your parents do not wanna come back, I can guarantee that. I'm basically doing your parents a favor by convincing them outta resurrecting them,"  
"You are talking gibberish," Itachi said. Ranma went on to explain how resurrection was wrong and that Itachi should not tear his parents away from the other side and back to the living world because he missed them.  
"How do you know this? Why should I believe you?" Itachi asked.  
"Can I just say 'I used to be God'?" Ranma gave a sheepish smile, "Will that be enough to convince you? Look, I really don't wanna explain my life because it's crazy and no one really believes me anyway. The point I'm getting as is that I'm willing to help you give up this goal of yours to resurrect your parents,"  
"Just exactly how do you intend to 'convince' me to give up this goal of mine?" Itachi smirked.  
"I'll take you back with me to my home world. We can have Skuld, the current God, show you your ambition to bring your parents back to life is wrong and should be given up," Ranma stated.  
Itachi asked, "And what of my ambition to avenge my parents' murders and destroy the very same Akatsuki organization that played a hand in their deaths?"  
Ranma shrugged.  
"It's up to you,"

Ranma showed back up at the expected meeting place and found Shizune and Naruto waiting their. When he made it to the rooftop, he found the two of them sitting in the corner, Shizune busy wrapping some bandages around Naruto's forearm.  
"What happened?" Ranma asked, approaching the two of them.  
"A fight," Naruto said.  
"Up here on the rooftop?" Ranma asked.  
"Kisame found us," Shizune said.  
"Up here?" Ranma asked, "Weren't you guys keeping yourself discreet and such? It's kinda hard to find someone when they don't wanna be found and just lie low, especially when the person looking for you has no idea where you are to begin with,"  
Naruto shook his head, "No, we didn't get in a fight up here. We got in a scuffle with Kisame in the park nearby,"  
"The park? What were you doing at the park?" Ranma asked.  
Shizune said, "I was down there doing something,"  
"Doing number one or number two?" Ranma smirked.  
Naruto started laughing, "I was thinking the same thing,"  
Shizune blushed in embarrassment, "I was doing neither!"  
"Number three? Y'know. It's basically number two coming out like a number one?" Ranma asked.  
"Eww!" Shizune shouted.  
Ranma and Naruto burst out laughing. While Shizune found the comment offensive, Naruto and Ranma found it hilarious. Afterall, a guy's sense of humor used to be more crude and vulgar than a girl's sense of humor.  
Naruto smiled proudly, "When Kisame tried to attack us, I beat him. Pretty easily at that,"  
"Cool," Ranma said.  
"Cool? That's it?" Naruto asked, "I figure you'd say something more than that,"  
Ranma said, "Well, considering your training, it shouldn't be no surprise that you beat him. He's without his sword so he's relatively harmless. If you look at his build, he's a powerful swordsman. Without his sword, it shouldn'tve been all that hard for you to beat him. Also, because of the training you've been going through, you should've been more than a match for him,"  
Naruto said nothing.  
"Actually, what I'm curious about is how he managed to hurt you in the first place," Ranma grinned, "Considering how much punishment you can take while we spar and not get hurt, it seems a bit odd,"  
"Um, I prefer not to say," Naruto said, embarrassed.  
"Lemme guess, you forgot you were wearing a vest and tried to jump on a branch or something and the branch gave out under your weight and you hit every branch on the way down,"  
"H-how'd you know?" Naruto said in surprise.  
Ranma burst out laughing, "Wow, that really happened? I was just making a guess. That's hilarious,"  
"Hmph," Naruto didn't seem amused at being Ranma's object of laughter.  
"So how went your talk with Itachi?" Shizune asked, "I noticed he and Kisame didn't attack you when you first approached them so I assume things went pretty well?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, it went pretty well. Itachi's a lot more open minded than I thought,"  
"What, does that mean he accepted your help?" Shizune asked, a bit vexed at the outcome or what Ranma would be saying, "He's going to be accompanying us to the temple?"  
"Not necessarily," Ranma said, "He says he will meet us at the temple when we get there. He won't be accompanying us on our journey,"  
Shizune seemed relieved.  
"I take it you don't want him with us, huh?" Ranma smirked.  
"Look, in case you haven't noticed, Itachi has done some terrible things and is still a dangerous person," Shizune said, "Knowing of his past changes nothing. I'm not like you and can not readily dismiss the fact that he tried to kill us,"  
Ranma smirked, "Actually, he tried killing me. I don't think he's done anything to you. If anything, I should be the one having problems dismissing his intentions to kill me,"  
"Still," Shizune said, "He's a dangerous person and has done many terrible things,"  
"So?" Ranma said, "What does that make me? Afterall, I'm just as dangerous if not more dangerous than Itachi. I've done things probably a thousand times more terrible than he could've possibly've done,"  
Shizune found herself unable to retort that comment.  
"Anyway, it seems like Itachi's isn't as bad a person as you believe," Ranma said, "If you give him a chance, you'll realize that he's simply the way he is due to his past,"  
"I'm sorry if I'm not as understanding as you," Shizune said.  
"Don't worry, not everyone's perfect," Ranma smiled.  
"Ha ha," Shizune said.  
"So, how about you, Naruto? How do you feel about this?" Ranma asked. Naruto said, "I'm not all that keen about it, but if you truly believe that Itachi's not as bad as it seems, I guess I can give it a try. If you can forgive someone like Itachi, even after he tried to kill you on a few occasions, I guess I can give it a try as well,"  
"I myself have problems understanding how you can so readily dismiss Itachi's attempts at murdering you," Shizune stated.  
Ranma said, "I've been through situations like this before. I'm used to it. Actually, almost all of the people I know that I'm friends with have, at some point in time, tried to kill me,"  
Shizune said, "And you're proud of that?"  
"No," Ranma said "I just happen to know that you should never judge a book by its cover,"  
"Um, in case you're not aware of this, Itachi is a murderer," Shizune said. "In case you're not aware of this, so am I," Ranma shrugged, "Does that mean I'm a bad person as well?"  
Shizune said nothing.

new stuff 4/6

Itachi found himself becoming impatient as he waited at the meeting place.  
It was unusual of Kisame to not do as he was told. He had been told to wait there for a short while but wasn't there when Itachi was finished talking with Ranma.  
After having waited for Kisame for a good hour, Itachi decided that enough was enough. Not tolerant of such insubordination from even an associate, Itachi had plans of giving Kisame a piece of his mind and perhaps threatening his life, provided Kisame showed up.  
After a little longer, Itachi decided to go back to the hotel. They had rented a hotel shortly after arriving in town and had been on their way to get some food when they bumped into Ranma.  
As he headed back to the hotel, he found himself cutting across a park. He and Kisame had cut across a park on their way toward the heart of the village earlier. As he did so, he noticed something different about the park this time around. There were a few toppled trees and daggers randomly strewn about. Little did Itachi know that he was looking at the destruction that had occurred between the fight between Kisame and Naruto.  
Realizing that there must had been a battle that had taken place there not too long ago, Itachi dismissed it. If the battle had nothing to do with him, then he didn't care to know about it.  
After cutting across the park, Itachi entered the hotel where he and Kisame were staying in and approached the man behind the counter.  
"Have you seen the large man I was with?" Itachi asked the man. He was sure the man remembered him and Kisame since they stood out quite a bit from the usual people that stayed at that hotel. Besides, it was hard not remembering a large man like Kisame.  
"Um, n-no, sir," the man said in a quivering voice.  
While the man didn't know that Itachi was an S-Class criminal, he felt this aura to Itachi that made him very nervous of the young man.  
Itachi scratched his chin, deep in thought.  
Where did Kisame go?

Ranma peered out the window of the hotel room.  
Shizune was sitting in her bed, petting Ton-Ton. Ton-Ton seemed happy to see the group back at the hotel. Naruto, dirty from his battle against Kisame earlier, was in the bathroom, taking a shower.  
"Ton-Ton seems lively," Ranma said, leaning against the windowsill.  
"Well, considering Ton-Ton's been sleeping most of the time while we were out at the carnival so it's understandable," Shizune stated.  
Ranma said, "I guess you have a point,"  
Shizune rubbed at her neck, "I'm looking forward to taking a nice hot shower,"  
"Naruto just got in," Ranma said, "It'll probably be a good ten to fifteen minutes before he's out,"  
Shizune said, "Man, what can I do to pass the time,"  
"We can always have sex," Ranma threw out there teasingly.  
Shizune blushed a deep shade of red at the comment.  
After a moment, realizing that Ranma was constantly getting her off-guard with stupid comments like that, she wanted to do something about it. Ranma should not have this kind of effect on her and it annoyed the heck out of her. Shizune, finally getting used to Ranma's teasing manner, "If you want sex, you'll get a yes out of Ton-Ton before you get one from me,"  
Ranma started laughing, "That's a good one. I like that. I've never heard a response like that before,"  
Shizune smirked. "When I say something like that, most girls say 'sure'," Ranma grinned, "I guess that's why I find it so amusing,"  
"What?" Shizune shouted, images of Ranma having sexual relations with random females entering her mind.  
Ranma started laughing again, "Heh, it seems like one snappy retort is all you're good for, huh?"  
He smiled as Shizune could be seen trying to come up with a witty retort. After a moment, he started laughing again.  
"Women who go for you probably have no sense of taste," Shizune said, saying anything that popped up in her mind.  
"How would you know? You don't even know what kinda women I like," Ranma retorted.  
"Fine, then what kind?" she asked, curious. She inwardly told herself that she wasn't interested in finding out to find out just how closely she matched some of Ranma's criteria.  
Ranma smiled, "That's easy. What I'm looking for in a person is someone that will pay for my living expenses, open doors for me, carry my luggage, treat me in a respectful and chivalrous manner, is good looking and will have sex with me when I want to, will help out around the house and with the kids, will be creative and keep me interested by taking me on fun dates, is funny and keeps me happy, and cheers me up when I'm in a grumpy mood, all the while completing the aforementioned tasks with a sense of delight and fulfillment while I do nothing for them in return except allow them to be with me,"  
Shizune was shocked at the list Ranma had given, "Are you insane? What kind of crazy list is that?"  
"Actually, that isn't what I'm looking for in a chick," Ranma chuckled, "I just happened to list out qualities women expect of a man. I just find it funny how a woman can be viewed as perfectly sane expecting something like that from a guy while a guy is considered insane asking for the EXACT same qualities,"  
Shizune found herself unable to retort.  
"Heh, it seems there is a double standard between women and men, especially in what someone is expected to look for in the opposite sex," Ranma smiled wryly.  
"You're wrong," Shizune said, "Men are simply expected to be those things,"  
Ranma burst out laughing. He then asked, "Okay, if men are expected to be those qualities on this world, then what qualities are women expect to have on this world?"  
Shizune said, "That's easy. Good parental skills, good at cooking, virginal, beautiful, funny, caring, understanding, dependable, and trustworthy,"  
Ranma looked around in his room, "And just where do find these kinda women because I would sure like to meet them,"  
"You're looking at one," Shizune said confidently.  
"Oh really?" Ranma perked an eyebrow, looking rather mischievous.  
The look Ranma gave her made Shizune nervous, making her wondering what was going through his mind. Ranma found himself intrigued by Shizune. While he was pretty sure he knew a good deal about her, he was also pretty sure there was more to her that he didn't know. For instance, he remember being pleasantly surprised when he found out she was a very good cook. Perhaps there were more things to her worth knowing.  
"Very well, we'll go on a date," Ranma said from out of the blue, "Tonight, you and I will have a night out on the town, like in a date,"  
Shizune's eyes widened.  
"W-what?"

new stuff 4/12

The date never happened. Shortly after Ranma had asked Shizune out, Naruto emerged from the bathroom, done with his shower. Shizune had excused herself to go take a shower, telling Ranma that she would think about it while she took a shower. While showering, she used that time alone to ask herself if she really wanted to go out with Ranma. After a bit of contemplation, she decided she might as well live a little and go out with him. Sure, she would make it known that it wasn't some kind of date and that they were going out as friends, but the thought of just spending some time with just Ranma did seem rather intriguing.  
Shizune couldn't help but feel disappointed when she finished her shower and had emerged from the bathroom, ready to accept Ranma's proposal, only to find out that Ranma had fallen asleep on his bed, Ton-Ton sleeping soundly as well, resting its head on one of his outstretched arms.  
"Something the matter?" Naruto asked, noticing Shizune was glaring at Ranma.  
"Nothing," she said, feeling a sense of annoyance and disappointment. The following day, Ranma and the others made their way North, walking down a dirt path that lead through a dense forest. With only a half a day left of traveling before they reached their expected destination, Ranma seemed genuinely excited. "Man, I can't wait to get my hands on the nanban mirror," Ranma said, "I can't wait to go home,"  
"What happens if it isn't this nanban mirror you're looking for?" Shizune asked, "That would mean what you've been looking for has been wrong all along,"  
Ranma didn't seemed to find that statement all that amusing, "Thanks for pointing that out to me,"  
"It's true," Naruto said, "For all we know, this nanban mirror doesn't exist. What if it doesn't exist?"  
"Then I'll figure out another way to get home," Ranma said, "Of course, I won't worry about that until I actually hafta worry about it. There is a chance that what I'm looking for is actually this world's version of the nanban mirror,"  
Shizune said, "But if it is, doesn't that mean the people on this world will be able to travel to other worlds as well like the way you do?"  
Ranma said, "Perhaps they're not aware of it. Using the mirror is kinda simple if you know how to use it. You just shed a tear on it and think of a place and time where you wanna go to and it takes you there. For all we know, since no one ever thought of going to a place other than this world, they were never taken there. Heck, for all we know, the mirror might actually take them to a different world and a different time but they don't even realize it because they're not even aware of it being capable of doing that,"  
"So that's how you use the mirror? You shed a tear on it and basically think of where you want to be taken to?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yep,"  
Shizune and Naruto looked at one another.  
"Wow, that's easy," Naruto said.  
"I know," Ranma chuckled, "It's so easy it's rather funny if you think about it. The premise of a mirror that can become a gateway to other worlds is pretty ridiculous, but hey, that's the way it is,"  
The group continued to walk along, eventually coming to a clearing within the dense forest. As they were crossing the clearing, Ton-Ton stopped for a moment and started sniffing around.  
"Is something the matter?" Shizune asked the pig.  
"Like you can understand Ton-Ton even if the pig answers," Ranma grinned.  
Shizune simply narrowed her eyes at Ranma, finding his comment not amusing.  
"Ah, you smell truffles, huh?" Ranma smirked at Ton-Ton.  
Ton-Ton snorted in reply.  
"I guess we can stop here if you want," Ranma said, "We've been walking for most of the morning," He looked at Shizune and Naruto, "How about it? Wanna stop so Ton-Ton can find itself some truffles?"  
"I don't mind," Naruto said, placing the large backpack of supplies he was carrying. As the mule of the group, Naruto carried all the supplies all the time. "Me neither," Shizune said.  
Ranma looked around at the clearing and smiled, "Actually, if I think about it, here's a perfect place for Naruto's last training session,"  
"Last training session?" Naruto asked, "Whatcha mean?"  
"Today's training session is gonna be a special one," Ranma smirked.  
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, a bit nervous of what Ranma had in store for him.  
"Today, you get rid your vest," Ranma said, "You've come a long way and there's no longer a need to be wearing it anymore,"  
Naruto asked, "I'm no longer gonna be wearing a vest anymore? Just like that?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yep. You're basically done with this phase of your training. There's only one more phase left,"  
"What phase is that?" Shizune asked curiously, "I figure that Naruto wearing the vest was the training,"  
Ranma nodded, "It is, but there's another phase to it,"  
"What phase is that?" Naruto asked, intrigued.  
"Take off your vest," Ranma told Naruto, "We're gonna spar. You'll figure it out on your own in the middle of our battle," Naruto did as he was told. Shizune could be seen walking off and taking a seat by a nearby tree by the edge of the clearing. Ton-Ton was no where to be seen, having disappeared into the forest to sniff out some truffles to eat.  
"You've come a long way in your training," Ranma said, "Unfortunately, you're still very rough around the edges,"  
"How so?" Naruto felt a bit offended. He figured he was coming along perfectly, even exceeding Ranma's expectations in terms of his training.  
"You have this tendency of panicking in extreme situations," Ranma said, "For instance, like the time I shoved you off that cliff that other time. Had you not panicked, you would've been able to land on your feet instead of, well, your face,"  
"You shoved me off a cliff!" Naruto said defensively, "Of course I panicked! I saw the ground rushing up toward me and my life flashing before my eyes! It was probably the scariest experience I've ever gone through in my life,"  
Ranma smirked, "Yeah, but still, you made not a single attempt at self-  
preservation despite the situation you were in. In a situation like that, your fight-or-flight system, your adrenaline, kicks in. Unfortunately, if you panic all that adrenaline does you no good,"  
"I was shoved off a cliff!" Naruto remained defensively, "You can't fault me for panicking in a situation like that!"  
"Hey, no need to get all defensive and such," Ranma said, "I'm just pointing out something you need to address in terms of your training if you wanna progress,"  
Naruto was confused by that statement.  
"I'm sure you've got the potential to keep a calm head in dire situations...back then," Ranma said, "The problem is that you probably don't have the ability to keep calm and use what you now know to your benefit,"  
Naruto scratched his head.  
"You're a lot stronger now," Ranma said, "The problem is that you're not even aware of just how must stronger. For instance, when you fell off that cliff-"  
"Pushed off dontcha mean?" Naruto corrected.  
"Yeah, pushed off," Ranma chuckled, "Anyway, when I pushed you off the cliff, you panicked because you thought you were going to die. The old Naruto, the Naruto before all this training, probably would've died from a fall like that. Of course, you're no longer the old Naruto. From a fall like that, the worse that could've happened is perhaps a nasty concussion or perhaps broken bone. You're not responding to situations like you've been trained to respond simply because you're not used to the fact that you're stronger,"  
"So what are you saying, that my mind isn't as far along in the training as my body is?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma smiled, "Actually, you hit the nail right on the head,"  
Naruto said, "So how do I get past that?"  
"It's easy, we're gonna force it out," Ranma said, "We're gonna fight. However, this time, this is for real. None of this sparring crap where I hold back. This time around, I'm going to actively try and beat you down into unconsciousness,"  
"Y-you are?" Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, "W-we're going to be fighting for real?"  
Ranma said, "Yep,"  
Naruto gulped.  
"You wanna visit my world, dontcha?" Ranma asked.  
"Of course!" Naruto said enthusiastically, "I can't wait to see it!"  
"That's gonna be what's at stake with this fight," Ranma said, "If you don't defeat me, I'm not letting you come with me to my world,"  
"What?" Naruto said, "You expect me to defeat you?"  
Ranma smiled, "Yep. This is the final phase of your training. Haven't you heard of the saying that the student must one day defeat his or her master? Today might be your day, if you try hard enough,"  
"This is crazy!" Naruto gasped.  
Ranma got into his battle stance, grinning, "Let's begin!"  
Ranma dashed forward, covering the gap between him and Naruto in a blink of an eye, his arm cocked back as if ready to hit the young boy right in the fact.  
Naruto, realizing that he did not have enough time to jump up over Ranma, instinctively brought his arms up to protect his face. Ranma simply smirked as he redirected his incoming fist in mid-flight, hitting Naruto with an open-palm strike right to the chest instead.  
Naruto ended up going flying bodily backwards where he crashed through a tree and on the other side of the clearing before bouncing off right behind it landing on the ground on his stomach.  
"W-what are you doing?" Shizune shouted in surprise.  
"Relax," Ranma said, turning his attention toward Shizune, "I know what I'm doing...I think,"  
While the blow was probably as powerful an attack as a small ki-blast a point blank range, Ranma knew that Naruto was ready for the incoming attack. Being aware of an incoming attack and bracing for it made the damage a lot less devastating. Shizune could be seen rushing off in the direction of Naruto, to tend to him and whatever horrible wounds Ranma must have just inflicted upon him for no reason.  
Naruto groaned in pain as he could feel this searing pain traveling up and down his body. He clutched at his chest as he slowly got to his feet. He couldn't believe how devastating an open-palm strike from Ranma could be.  
Sitting upright, Naruto's eyes widened when he noticed a shattered tree right in front of him, the three he had been blown bodily through.  
"D-did I just get hit through that tree?" Naruto seemed confused. He remembered feeling his back hit into something, but didn't think he had hit into something so hard that he ended up going through it. The thought of that seemed surreal at the moment.  
"Naruto, are you all right?" Shizune rushed up to him, crouching by him.  
"Ugh," Naruto rubbed at his chest, "I'm okay, I think,"  
He looked down at his chest and noticed that there was no hole there. The blow felt like it had blown a hole right through his body, obliterating his ribcage and spine and internal organs in the process. "What's going on? Why did he hit you like that?" Shizune asked.  
It took a moment for Naruto to collect himself, "Ranma said we hafta fight, that this is the last phase of my training,"  
"What kind of sparring session is this? It looks like he's trying to kill you!" Shizune seemed genuinely worried.  
Naruto said, "It's not a sparring session. We're actually fighting. I hafta defeat him,"  
"What?" Shizune shouted.  
"It's a part of my training," Naruto said weakly.  
"Are you nuts? How is this considered training?" Shizune said.  
"Because it is," came Ranma's voice.  
Shizune and Naruto looked up and saw Ranma standing nearby.  
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Ranma lash out at him with a vicious kick.  
Ranma kicked Naruto right in the chest as the young boy was still in a sitting position on the ground. Naruto ended up getting blown bodily backwards and through the tree he had just bounced off of, bouncing off the three behind it.  
The tree Naruto got kicked through fell forward, Ranma kicking it out of the way before it landed on both him and Shizune.  
"Ranma! What the hell are you doing?" Shizune shouted at Ranma, concerned for Naruto, "What kind of sick training is this?"  
"Relax," Ranma said, "Just sit back and watch,"  
"No!" Shizune produced a dagger from the folds of her outfit, "I will not sit idle while you try and murder Naruto,"  
Ranma couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed, "I'm doing no such thing! Don't go jumping to conclusion and mind your own business! You're just making things complicated!"  
Shizune was taken aback by Ranma's words. "Look, this is a part of his training," Ranma said, his voice soft now, "Naruto needs this to bring out his hidden potential. He needs something like to mentally prepare him to do the things he is already physically capable of doing. He needs to learn mentally what he can physically do after all this training,"  
Shizune didn't seem to convinced, "How's this mental training? It simply looks like you trying to severely hurt him,"  
"That's because I am," Ranma said, "This isn't some sparring session where I hold back. Since I'm not holding back and he's in danger of actually getting hurt, he will come to realize that he needs to resort to his training to keep himself from getting beaten up so easily,"  
"But how's this going to help him use his training?" Shizune asked, "It's going to be nothing but a one-side battle where you just bully him,"  
"It's a part of his goddamn training," Ranma said in annoyance, "Quit criticizing me and the way I teach-"  
Ranma was interrupted in mid-sentence as he was forced to quickly duck as a heavy object sailed right over his head, missing him barely, landing on the ground nearby.  
He looking over toward the object that just missed him, Ranma saw the weighted vest Naruto had taken off before.  
"Hm, I wasn't expecting him to do something like that," Ranma said to himself. He wondered if Naruto was picking up on his unorthodox fighting habits. Throwing a weighted vest was something Ranma would do, not Naruto.  
Ranma turned around to face Naruto.  
Naruto was standing nearby, breathing heavily. The small trickle of blood dripping down a small cut on his lips seemed to be the only indication that Naruto had actually gotten hurt from those two previous blows Ranma had inflicted upon him. Shizune could be seen gazing back and forth between Naruto and Ranma. There was this look of astonishment in her eyes at the sight of Naruto actually standing under his own power.  
"You almost got me," Ranma smirked at Naruto.  
"I can't believe you kicked me while I was down!" Naruto seemed angry.  
Ranma chuckled, "I know, that was kinda low, wasn't it?"  
"Naruto, are you okay?" Shizune asked Naruto.  
"I'll live," Naruto said, hiding the pain he was actually feeling throughout his body. Ranma smiled, "It seems like your training is starting to surface. For you've tried to've blocked my first attack, that's very impressive,"  
Ranma really was impressed. To be able to see one of Ranma's incoming attacks was quite a feat. To be able to see it and actually try and block it was an even greater feat. That alone made Ranma realize that Naruto was already further along in his training than Shinji. Shinji, whom Ranma had been training for a few years, still had trouble actually seeing Ranma's attacks, let alone react accordingly. For Naruto to have surpassed Shinji in a few weeks of training meant Naruto was a natural martial artist.  
"Shizune, if you don't mind, we'd like to continue on with our fight," Ranma said to Shizune.  
"Yeah," Naruto agree, not taking his eyes off Ranma.  
Shizune looked back and forth between Ranma and Naruto before finally agreeing in their request and heading off to take a seat by Ton-Ton. If Naruto seemed perfectly content with letting Ranma beating him up, then it wasn't Shizune's place to say otherwise.  
After was a safe distance away from Ranma and Naruto, Ranma turned toward Naruto.  
"Well, let's see whatcha got?" Ranma smirked, getting back into a battle stance.  
Naruto took that as a challenge and quickly ran straight toward Ranma, punching at him viciously, as if intent on hitting him as hard as possible and let it be known to Ranma that he had been hit.  
Ranma simply punched Naruto's incoming fist, sending a jolt of pain shooting up the length of Naruto's arm. Naruto screamed out in pain as he jumped up and down, shaking his hand vigorously.  
Ranma chuckled as he Naruto rub as his hand.  
"What the heck kinda attack was that?" Naruto shouted.  
"I punched your fist," Ranma smiled, "That'll teach you that punching me is useless,"  
Naruto could be seen deep in thought, planning out his next course of action. To Ranma's surprise, Naruto dashed forward and punched at Ranma again. Ranma ended up punching Naruto's incoming fist once again. Naruto continued to try punching Ranma, all of those attacks ending up with the same result, Ranma punching Naruto's incoming fist and causing the young boy considerable pain.  
"Dontcha realize that punching at me's useless?" Ranma asked, surprised at the boy's tenacity and pain threshold. Naruto's hand was swollen to the size of a catcher's mitt from such abuse.  
"I'm trying to find out whose fist breaks first!" Naruto said.  
"You've gotta be kidding me," Ranma said. He held up his hand, "Look at my hand, it's perfectly fine. It's not even red from the punching. Now look at your hand. Who's fist do you think will break first?"  
"I don't care," Naruto said stubbornly, "I'll continue on until my hand breaks if that's the case,"  
Ranma sighed, "It doesn't hafta come to this, y'know,"

new stuff 4/21

Naruto charged at Ranma, his arm cocked back, ready for a punch.  
Ranma simply stood still, awaiting for Naruto to attack. When the young boy did, he punched Naruto's incoming fist with his own fist. Naruto ended up screaming in pain as his forearm ended up sliding backwards and up his upper arm, dislocated at the elbow. The bony part of his wrist could be seen pressing against the skin of the back of his hand, his hand dislocated at the wrist as well.  
Naruto fell to the ground, clutching at his arm with his good arm, writhing in pain. His arm simply could be seen hanging limply off the side of his body, bent at an awkward angle.  
The pain didn't last long for Ranma quickly walked over to where Naruto was and grabbed the young boy's dislocated arm, giving it a quick twist and popping the elbow and wrist back in its place, leaving behind this odd sensation that all the pain he had felt had only been in his mind.  
Naruto looked up at Ranma in disbelief.  
"Told you your hand was going to break before mine did," Ranma stated, grinning.  
Ranma's fist was incredibly hard. The only person would could possibly break his hand was Ryoga, Ryoga possessing an incomprehensibly hard fist. Standing over Naruto as Naruto looked up at him dumbfounded brought a sense of nostalgia to Ranma. Ryoga had done something similar to Ranma before. The first time Ryoga had punched Ranma's fist, Ranma ended up having his shoulder, elbow, and wrist dislocated. Ryoga simply laughed for a minute, finding amusement in Ranma's pain and suffering before he finally decided to pop Ranma's joints back in place.  
"What the heck did you just do?" Naruto asked, looking down at his arm, moving it around as if testing it.  
"I punched it," Ranma said with a smile, "C'mon, like I said, I know a lotta techniques,"  
Naruto pointed at Ranma's hand, smirking, "It seems like you're not as good at it as you thought,"  
Ranma looked down at his hand and noticed it was bleeding, the knuckle area raw and torn. The sight of his bleeding hand surprised Ranma. Naruto's punch must had been a lot stronger than Ranma had originally anticipated, to be able to cause enough of an impact to actually tear the skin around Ranma's knuckles.  
"Hm, not bad," Ranma smiled proudly, like a father smiling at a son, "Not bad at all,"  
Naruto smiled confidently, happy with himself.  
Without warning, Ranma darted a finger into the ground, "Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!"  
The ground below Naruto's feet erupted upwards, thousands of bits of rock and debris shooting upwards, sending poor Naruto spiraling upward through the air where he arced through the sky and landed on his back a short distance away, badly scratched up and beaten.  
"Whatcha go and do that for?" Naruto sat upward, wincing in pain. Caught completely off-guard by that attack, Naruto had ended up getting caught full force in that earthly explosion. He hurt all over and could feel the warmth of his own blood flowing down the side of his face.  
Naruto found himself shouting at thin air in front of him, Ranma no longer where the young boy thought he would be.  
"We're in the middle of a fight," came Ranma's voice.  
Naruto tried to turn around to face Ranma but was greeted with a punch right in the chin. The young boy ended up getting blown bodily through the air where he tumbled on the ground a good thirty feet to a halt.  
"Ugh!" Naruto felt like he was near the edge of consciousness.  
I'm going to pass out, Naruto thought in defeat. This is hopeless. There's absolutely no way I can seriously hurt Ranma, let alone beat him. I can't believe how strong Ranma is. He's going easy on me and he's demolishing me. Even without my vest, it's no use. There's no way I can fight against him in hand-to-  
hand combat.  
Naruto's eyes widened. That's what I'm doing wrong, he realized. There's no possible way I can defeat Ranma in hand-to-hand combat. I need to use my Jutsu against him. I need to use tricks and strategy against him.  
Slowly, Naruto tried to get up to his feet.  
Ranma smiled as he slowly approached Naruto, noticing the expression on Naruto's face. It seemed like the young boy was finally starting to figure things out. What the hell, Naruto thought in shock. His legs weren't moving. No matter how hard he tried to get back up to his feet, his body didn't seem to want to respond. It was as if his legs were momentarily paralyzed. A sense of panic started swelling up within Naruto's chest as he saw Ranma still slowly approaching.  
"You better get back up to your feet," Ranma smirked, stopping and pointing a hand toward Naruto, "I'm gonna shoot you with a ki-blast and it's gonna really hurt,"  
"W-wait!" Naruto shouted, realizing Ranma wasn't aware that he couldn't move his legs. This great sense of fear was enveloping him. If Ranma didn't know Naruto couldn't move his legs, then he isn't aware that Naruto will be unable to dodge the attack.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Ranma shouted, shooting a ki-blast straight toward Naruto. He took care to make sure it was very toned-down version of the ki-blast he usually shot. Afterall, he had no intention of killing Naruto. Knocking him unconscious with such a blast Ranma had no problem with attempting.  
Naruto could see his life flashing before his eyes as he saw the incoming projectile getting bigger and bigger as it rocketed toward him. The sight of a ki-blast coming straight toward him was quite a sight to behold.  
I'm going to die if I don't do something, Naruto thought in a panic. I hafta do something! I hafta do anything! But what? I dunno how to deflect it! Blocking it will be no use! And I can't dodge it!  
With no real idea what to do, Naruto's body seem to react on its own, his arms coming up to shield his face from the incoming projectile.  
The ki-blast struck Naruto full-force, the explosion engulfing him. He felt a great sense of heat as he found himself inside the exploding ki-blast. He felt the ground below him melt as he suddenly found himself falling downward slightly while within the blast.  
When the blast subsided, Naruto still had his arms up in front of him, shielding his face. He was as still as a stone statue, unmoving, as if fearful that he was nothing but ash and the slightest movement would making him crumble into dust.  
Ranma smiled proudly when he saw that Naruto was generally all right. Aside from being slightly singed and now sitting in the middle of a small crater, Naruto looked generally unhurt.  
Ranma was proud that Naruto's mind was finally starting to catch up to what his body was capable off. Punching Naruto right in the chin before, Ranma knew that the effects of having his brain jostled within the skull from such an attack would make it impossible for Naruto to use his legs. That was why Ranma then shot a ki-blast at him. He wanted to put Naruto in what felt like a life-threatening situation, to make him panic at the sight of seeing an incoming ki-blast. That way, he could force Naruto to rid his propensity of panicking in such a situation.  
Although Naruto knew that a ki-blast would seriously hurt him, he didn't let the panic consume him and do nothing. The fact that he tried to do something was all that Ranma wanted.  
Naruto had finally started to grow as a fighter.

Sasuke paced back and forth in front of the Hokage's office, contemplating what to say. Deep down inside, as much as he had resented the Hokage's decision to get him back shortly after he defected from Hidden Leaf Village, he knew that she made the right decision.  
Due to his lust for power, he didn't see everything clearly. Had Ranma and Naruto not had gotten him back, he would have been lost of his free will, forever bound to Orochimaru and his cursed seal.  
A few hours ago, he had been released from the village's hospital. He had spent the time since his release walking around, deep in thought over his recent actions. When Ranma and Naruto had brought him back and he had been released from that cylindrical container, he had been deep in a coma. Through constant medical attention from Tsunade and various skilled medical ninjas, Sasuke had been brought out of that coma and prevented from transforming to his fully cursed form.  
"Sasuke," came a voice.  
Sasuke turned toward the voice. He found himself looking at the pink-haired girl, Sakura. She had this concerned look on her face and there was a flower in one of her hands.  
"Sakura," Sasuke acknowledged.  
"I've been wondering where you were," she stated, "When did they let you out?"  
"How'd you know I was released?" Sasuke asked after a moment. "Um, I came to visit you and the hospital told me you were not too long ago," Sakura said, blushing slightly.  
Sasuke noticed the flower in Sakura's hand. It made him realize that she must have been the one that left all those flower. There had been a vase next to Sasuke's bed that was filled with flowers, Sakura having brought a flower every time she visited.  
"Are you okay? Um, I've been worried about you," she said nervously.  
"I'm fine. Thanks for your concern," Sasuke waved a dismissive hand.  
There was a moment of awkward silence, a sense of tension between the two of them. Sakura had been the one that made it known that he had defected in the first place. Had Sakura not tried to have stopped him from defecting that night, no one would have known. The fact that Sasuke knocked her out to keep her from going after him was another reason there could be tension between them. Afterall, it meant Sasuke didn't have a problem with hitting her if need be.  
"Who got me back?" Sasuke asked. That had been on his mind the whole time. "Um, Naruto and Ranma," Sakura answered timidly.  
"Those two, huh?" Sasuke asked wistfully.  
It made him a bit curious as to why they helped get him back in the first place. He and Naruto weren't all that good of friends, rivals more like it, and there was no obligation for Ranma to help him.  
"Um, I'm sorry about what happened," Sakura tried to explain herself, "I know you were very intent on defecting, I know it wasn't really my place to decide for you, but I couldn't just sit back and let you. I had to tell someone,"  
"Forget about it," Sasuke said, using that statement as his way of saying thanks, "I guess it was for the best,"  
Sakura smiled happily.  
"Where are they now?" he asked.  
"Ranma and Naruto?" Sakura asked. As much as he didn't want to, he knew he had to thank them in some way or another. He was also curious as to how they got him back in the first place. The four subordinates of Orochimaru that came to retrieve Sasuke were powerful fighters and no walk in the park to defeat, most likely that is.  
Sasuke nodded, "Yeah,"  
"I'm not too sure," Sakura said, "I saw them around a week ago. I heard rumors they were heading North,"  
"North? What for? Another mission?" Sasuke asked. It made him wonder how many missions Naruto now have under his belt. The fact that he and Naruto used to be on the same team together and Naruto had gone out to retrieve him meant Naruto had at least one extra mission accomplished under his belt.  
Actually, if he thought about it, that meant he had two missions under his belt. Naruto had accomplished a previous mission where he and Ranma found the new Hokage and somehow managed to convince her to take on the role of Hokage as well.  
Sakura shrugged, "I have no idea. Lee said he saw them leaving from the North gate. They didn't hang around for even a day after they got you back,"  
Sasuke scratched his chin, curious as to where those two had been headed.  
"Um, Lee's better now," Sakura said, hoping to make conversation.  
"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked.  
"I'm not too sure," Sakura said, "He said Ranma did some weird joint manipulations on him and fixed him up as good as new. He even claims he feels better now than ever before and is probably training as we speak, to catch up on the lost training during the time he was injured,"  
Sasuke smirked slightly, "That's good to hear,"  
He considered Lee a very strong fighter and looked forward to one day fighting him, be it a friendly sparring session or a full-blown battle to see who was a better fighter.  
"Are you here to visit the Hokage?" Sakura noticed Sasuke standing in front of the Hokage's door.  
"Does it matter?" he asked defensively. It was none of her concern anyway. Sakura, realizing that there was nothing much she could do to keep a conversation going with Sasuke, decided it was best she just quit while she was ahead, "Um, I'm happy that you're okay. I guess it's best I get going now,"  
"Fine," Sasuke said, "Bye,"  
"Bye," Sakura said sadly before walking off. Deep down inside, she had been hoping Sasuke would at least give her a kiss on the cheek or a hug as a way of saying thanks but Sasuke wasn't like that.  
"That'd be so cool if he did!" Sakura yelped happily as she thought about that.  
Sasuke looked at Sakura oddly as she walked away, wondering what the heck she was talking about. After a moment, he realized he didn't really care what was on her mind and turned his attention back onto the Hokage's door.  
Steeling himself, he knocked.  
"Enter," came Tsunade's voice.  
Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. He didn't really know much about the new Hokage except her name was Tsunade. She had taken on the role of Hokage shortly before Sasuke had defected from the village. It made him wonder how Naruto usually reacted around her.  
Entering the Hokage's office, Sasuke was surprised at the sight of all the various piles of paperwork all over the place. It seemed like ever since Orochimaru's attempt at the destruction of Hidden Leaf Village meant there was a lot of paperwork to sort through afterwards.  
Tsunade, the Hokage, could be seen standing by the nearby open window in the back of the office. Sick of being in front of piles and piles of paperwork, she needed a break.  
"You're awake," Tsunade said, surprised to see Sasuke already out of his coma.  
"I came here to thank you for your help," Sasuke said after a moment. He knew he had to thank Tsunade since she had actively helped bring him out of his coma, using her medical expertise to help seal the cursed seal and revert him back to his normal human form while he had been in his coma.  
"You're welcome," Tsunade said almost dismissively. Realizing that there was nothing much else to say, Sasuke turned around to leave.  
"Before you leave, there's something I want to tell you," Tsunade said.  
"Yes?" he asked curiously.  
"If you ever do something like that again, I will personally kill you," Tsunade said bluntly.  
She was a bit annoyed with Sasuke. She didn't really like him all that much. He reminded her too much of Orochimaru, what with his constant lust for power. Sure, Sasuke had a reason to lust power, to want to become powerful enough to kill his brother, Itachi, but still, it was a stupid reason. "It's not my place to decide what you should or shouldn't do," Tsunade continued, "But let it be known that I will not hesitate to kill you. Siding with Orochimaru means you're an enemy of this village simply by association. And as an enemy, you will not be given any special treatment even though you live or used to live here. Do you understand?"  
Sasuke was taken aback by Tsunade's statement. At first, he was curious as to how good a Hokage Tsunade would be for such a task but that question was easily answered when he realized how serious she took her job.  
He nodded, "Yes, I understand,"  
"You're an exceptional fighter with a lot of potential," Tsunade said, "It would be a shame to have to cut your life short because of something like this. If you want to become really strong, train harder. Don't go taking shortcuts to becoming stronger,"  
At that moment, a bird flew into the office via the open window, landing on the windowsill. There was something attached to one of its legs, a small piece of folded up paper.  
Tsunade held a hand out as the bird flew into the room and landed on one of her fingers. She removed the paper from its leg as the bird then flew out the window.  
Sasuke watched as Tsunade read the paper. After a minute, Tsunade's lips became a thin line. She then walked over to where her desk was and sat down, talking to herself, "What the heck is Ranma thinking?"  
"Speaking of which, do you know where he and Naruto are?" Sasuke asked.  
Tsunade said, "Yes, I know. They're currently on a mission, so to speak,"  
"Can you tell me where?" Sasuke asked, "I'd like to thank them for their help,"  
"Sorry, but I can't tell you," Tsunade said, "I have my reasons,"  
"Okay," Sasuke took that as a given. He assumed it had something to do with the message she just received. It made him wonder what made her so worried.  
"Anyway, I'm glad you've finally come out of your coma and are up and about now," Tsunade motioned dismissively toward Sasuke, "You may go now. I have some important tasks that need to be dealt with,"  
A gust of wind blew in through the window, blowing over a large stack of paper. Tsunade yelped in surprise and annoyance as she watched her office suddenly become paper-strewn, paper falling all over the place.  
"Here, let me help you," Sasuke rushed forward, crouching to pick up some random pieces of paper.  
"Forget about it," Tsunade said, "Just go,"  
Sasuke stopped, "Okay,"  
He turned around and left the office.  
Outside the office, Sasuke took a deep breath. He couldn't believe what he had just seen and read. Believing the piece of paper told of Ranma's and Naruto's whereabouts, he had seized the opportunity to read it using his Sharingan ability during that brief moment of opportunity presented to him when the gust of wind blew paper everywhere.  
He closed his eyes, recalling exactly what he had read.  
'Ranma and Naruto and I have made it to 'Banishment Peninsula'. We are only a half a day away from our destination, 'Banishment Temple'. We have bumped into Itachi and Kisame along the way. Ranma just went off to talk to him. He said something about wanting to help Itachi out. If Itachi accepts Ranma's offer, I have a funny feeling we will all be heading to the temple together and I'm not looking forward to it. I'll keep you updated on what happens. Shizune'  
Sasuke's heart was beating rapidly when he noticed the letter had mentioned his brother Itachi. A sense of great anger could be felt coursing through his body. Any mention of his brother brought out this venom-like hatred in his heart.  
It seemed like whoever this Shizune person was that wrote that letter was probably relaying messages back to the Hokage, to help her keep tabs on Naruto and Ranma. And because of that, she had inadvertently revealed to Sasuke Itachi's whereabouts.  
Aware of Itachi's current whereabouts, Sasuke knew he had to seize the opportunity while he had the chance. Since he knew where Itachi was, there was a chance he could use the element of surprise to assassinate him. "Where's this 'Banishment Temple'?" Sasuke asked himself.  
Coming up with an idea, Sasuke quickly ran off to catch up with Sakura. She must still be around, having left him only a few minutes ago. He managed to catch up to her as she was heading home. She looked a bit sad, depressed from having failed so miserably in keeping Sasuke's attention.  
"Sakura," he called out to her.  
"S-Sasuke," Sakura whirled around, surprised that he called out to her. It was unlike Sasuke to actively seek her out for anything.  
"I have a question I'd like to ask you," he said. He acknowledged that Sakura was a smart girl and that she was probably one of the few people he knew that might be able to answer his question.  
"Sure, what is it?" she asked, eager to please him.  
"Have you heard of a place called 'Banishment Temple'?" he asked.  
Sakura scratched her chin as she thought for a moment, "That sounds familiar. I remember reading something about that in one of our textbooks a while back,"  
"And?" he seemed impatient, "Is there anything else you can tell me?"  
Sakura felt angry at herself for being unable to answer Sasuke right away, "I'm trying to remember. I just need a minute,"  
Sasuke's constant attention seemed to make Sakura very nervous, she not used to his close scrutiny. She found herself having problems thinking straight, constantly aware of his eyes on her.  
"Oh, I remember," she said in relief as the information finally formulated in her mind, "It's located way North of here,"  
"Where?" he asked.  
"North. North North-West actually," she answered, "It's probably around a week's travel by foot from here. It's located on the Northern-most tip of 'Banishment Peninsula',"  
"Thanks," Sasuke said, "You've been really helpful,"  
Aware of where 'Banishment Temple' was, Sasuke didn't want to waste time hanging around chatting with Sakura.  
"Y-you're welcome," she said, blushing.  
She found herself speaking to thin air, Sasuke having taken off running Northward. As she watched him get smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing out of view, she scratched her head in confusion.  
"Where's Sasuke in such a hurry to?"

new stuff 4/23

Tsunade was in the process of cleaning up all the papers littering her office when there came a knock on the door.  
"Enter," she called out as she continued cleaning.  
The door opened and in entered Sakura.  
"Sakura, right?" Tsunade asked. She had only spent a brief moment with Sakura a few days ago when they bumped into each other at the hospital, when Tsunade had taken some time off from her work to check up on Sasuke's condition. Sakura nodded.  
"What can I do for you?" she asked with a smile.  
There was something to Sakura that Tsunade liked. She reminded Tsunade a bit of herself when she was her age. "Um, I was just curious as to what you said to Sasuke," Sakura said nervously. Having seen Sasuke standing in front the Hokage's office before, she figured maybe Tsunade had something to do with Sasuke's sudden departure.  
Tsunade said, "I don't think that is any of your concern what I said or didn't say to Sasuke. Why are you asking me a question like that?"  
Sakura wondered if she should say anything. Sure, she was concerned for Sasuke, but telling her would basically mean she was putting her nose in something where her nose didn't belong.  
"Well, he seemed in a rush to be somewhere, and given what happened to him just recently, I don't think he should be sent on a mission right away," Sakura said after a moment.  
"A mission? What gives you the idea that he's being sent on a mission?" Tsunade asked, "Of all things, he's the last person to be going on a mission. He needs time to recover,"  
Sakura was confused, "So he isn't being sent out on a mission?"  
"No," Tsunade said, "What, you think that's the reason why he was here, because I wanted to send him out on a mission?"  
Sakura's silence seemed to say so.  
"Well, you have nothing to worry about," Tsunade said, "He's not to be doing any missions. Rest is all he's supposed to be doing,"  
"Then how comes I have this weird notion that he seems to be on his way toward this place called 'Banishment Temple'?" Sakura asked.  
"What?" Tsunade was taken aback by Sakura's question, "What did you say?"  
Sakura said, "Well, he was asking me where 'Banishment Temple' was,"  
"And what did you say to him?" Tsunade asked, not eager to hear what Sakura was going to say afterwards.  
"I told him I read about it in a textbook and that I remember it was located on the Northern most tip of 'Banishment Peninsula'," she answered a bit nervously, feeling like she had just done something terribly wrong, "After I said that, he just rushed off. From what I gather, I figure he's heading for there right now,"  
Tsunade's eyes widened, "What? He is? Are you sure?"  
Sakura shook her head, "Well, no. I have no idea if he is or isn't, but I think he might be. It's just an intuition I have that he is though,"  
Being a woman herself, Tsunade knew that a woman's intuition was usually very accurate and not to be taken lightly.  
"Do you know why he's heading there?" Tsunade asked.  
"He didn't say anything," came the answer.  
Tsunade paused for a moment, deep in thought. For Sasuke to be heading there meant big trouble. She had only found out a minute ago that that was where Ranma and Naruto was headed. To make matters worse, it was mentioned that Itachi might be with them. Why on Earth would Sasuke be heading there right now? Did it have something to do with Ranma and Naruto? Perhaps he wanted to go there to thank them for helping him out, but that seemed unlikely. There must be another reason. Could it be because he somehow found out that Itachi might be there as well? Actually, if she thought about it, Sasuke hated his brother so much that it would be very probably that he would go out of his way to find him in hopes of killing him. That was most likely it, that Sasuke had somehow found out that Itachi would be expected at 'Banishment Temple' and was heading there right now to try and assassinate him.  
If that's the case, how did he find out about Itachi's whereabouts?  
She glanced around her room toward the pieces of paper littering the area. As she did so, she happened to have caught sight of the letter from Shizune she had recently received.  
"The letter!" Tsunade realized, "He must've used his Sharingan ability to read and memorize it,"  
"Huh?" Sakura was confused.  
"Oh boy, this isn't good!" Ranma's eyes widened in surprise. Ranma's head was cranked backwards at an awkward angle as he looked upward toward the giant frog standing before him. During the course of the battle, Naruto had somehow managed to summon the giant frog, Gamabunta. He recognized that giant frog as the frog he had seen during the training session where Naruto was expected to cross the river while wearing his weighted vest.  
Aside from a few bumps and bruises, Ranma was unscathed. Over the course of their battle, Naruto had managed to actually hit Ranma several times, a feat that not only surprised Ranma, but also Naruto as well.  
Naruto seemed to have an ingenious ability to use clones effectively, using one right after another to mask his true intentions. Most of the clones being used were used strictly as cannon fodder to actually manipulate Ranma into a certain location or trap Naruto had set previously. Unfortunately, Ranma's lightning reflexes allowed him to dodge the traps after they were set off quite easily. It also didn't help that Ranma usually detected the traps before they were set off.  
Most of Naruto's traps consisted of explosive wards, used not to hurt him, but to merely distract him momentarily to create an opening in his defenses for Naruto to take advantage of. After managing to land several well placed attacks, Ranma started catching on and those forms of distraction no longer worked, Ranma simply tuning them out.  
By then, Naruto had basically exhausted his chakra reserves, which gave him the ability to summon Gamabunta.  
Ranma hadn't expected Naruto to resort to summoning Gamabunta for the fight. It had made him realize that he had underestimated Naruto quite a bit. At first, when Naruto conjured several hundred clones to attack Ranma, Ranma didn't see what the young boy was up to. It wasn't until after Naruto summoned Gamabunta did he realize Naruto's original plan.  
Naruto had summoned all those clones to attack Ranma, knowing that it would be fruitless to simply waste all his chakra doing so. He had done so to basically exhaust his chakra reserve so that he can tap into his extra chakra reserve to summon Gamabunta.  
"Ha ha ha!" Naruto laughed confidently, "It seems like the tides have turned in my favor! You may be strong, but with Gamabunta here helping me out, you're in trouble!"  
Ranma didn't bother to mention that he had managed to almost single-handedly defeat Shuukaku, that badger-like demon Gaara had transformed into. Sure, Naruto had helped out by hitting Gaara and basically waking him up from his slumber and thus weakening Shuukaku's resolve, but it wasn't something Ranma couldn't had done himself.  
"Gamabunta, I command you to defeat that puny Ranma down by your feet," Naruto said loudly, pointing a bloody hand toward Ranma.  
Naruto's hand was bloody from Ranma punching his fist. Ranma's fist was far tougher than Naruto and Naruto was smart enough to know that his own fist would break long before Ranma's fist broke.  
Gamabunta looked downward toward Ranma, eyeing him critically as if assessing him.  
"Um, hello," Ranma smiled nervously.  
"Beat Ranma to a bloody pulp," Naruto commanded the giant frog.  
"No," Gamabunta replied.  
"What? Why not?" Naruto shouted in surprise.  
"I see no reason to do so," Gamabunta answered in a booming voice, "He has done nothing to me so there is no reason for me to do anything to him,"  
Naruto said, "But I need your help to defeat him,"  
"Too bad. That's your problem, not mine," Gamabunta said.  
In a large cloud of smoke, Gamabunta disappeared, leaving behind Naruto suspended over a hundred feet in the air momentarily. When gravity took its course, Naruto fell downward face-first toward the ground far below, screaming all the way, flailing his arms as if flapping invisible wings.  
Ranma was about to rush forward to catch the young boy from a painful landing but stopped when he noticed Naruto suddenly twist in the air, pointing his feet downward. Naruto ended up landing on his feet, bending at his knees at the very moment his feet touched the ground to lessen the impact of the landing. Although the landing was rather crude and could have had much more finesse to it, Naruto didn't get hurt landing.  
Ranma watched as Naruto seem to be remain in that kneeling position, fighting back the urge to laugh since Naruto looked as if he was trying to go to the bathroom while in that position.  
"I-I landed safely," Naruto said in disbelief.  
"I know, I saw," Ranma said, "Congratulations. Now let's see what you do against this?"  
Naruto turned in the direction of Ranma only to be hit in the chest with an open-palm strike and sent flying. The young boy ended up flying bodily through the air where he slammed into a couple of trees before bouncing off one and falling to the ground.  
Ranma sighed, feeling that Naruto was taking two step backwards with every step forward.  
"C'mon, you were supposed to react to that,"

Shikamaru knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.  
"Enter," came Tsunade's voice.  
Shikamaru entered. He crossed the messy office and up to Tsunade's desk, coming to stop in front of it.  
He was a bit nervous and excited about what to expect. He had a funny feeling it had to do with an upcoming mission. Even thought he lost his fight in the Chuunin tournament, he had been the only one to have been promoted to the Chuunin level. Therefore, that meant he was considered capable of carrying out missions.  
Tsunade regarded Shikamaru for a moment, assessing him. The boy looked almost too young to be a Chuunin and seemed to possess a demeanor like he didn't even want to be a Chuunin in the first place.  
"You summoned me?" Shikamaru asked.  
"Yes," she nodded, "You've been recently promoted to a Chuunin, am I correct?"  
Shikamaru nodded, not all that keen on what he was going to hear next.  
"Good, I have a mission for you," she said.  
"Um, what is it?" he asked, not all that enthusiastically.  
"I need you to quickly assemble a team of three, including yourself, and make your way toward 'Banishment Temple' immediately," Tsunade said, "You are to intercept someone and kill him the moment you come in contact with him. A map will be provided for you on the temple's location,"  
"An assassination?" Shikamaru said, not all that keen of having to carry such a task out, "Um, okay. Who are we supposed to intercept and assassinate?"  
"Sasuke Uchiha," Tsunade said, "I assume you know him, right?"  
"Sasuke? You want us to kill him? Why?" Shikamaru asked in surprise.  
Tsunade said, "Are you questioning my orders?"  
"Um, no," Shikamaru held his hands up defensively, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just that, well, Sasuke's a friend of ours. To have to kill him..."  
Tsunade said, "He knew the consequences and chose to ignore it and defect anyway,"  
Shikamaru asked, "Isn't there perhaps another way?"  
"No, there isn't," Tsunade said in a commanding voice, "We can not have Sasuke wandering around outside the village unescorted. His life is in jeopardy,"  
"But if we're expected to kill him, how is that any different?" Shikamaru asked.  
Tsunade said, "Because, Orochimaru is after him. He wants Sasuke and his Sharingan ability and will stop at nothing to get him. Should he get his hands on Sasuke, he intends to take on Sasuke's body and acquire his Sharingan ability. If that happens, Orochimaru will basically be unstoppable and we can not let that happen. You are to kill Sasuke before Orochimaru has a chance to get his hands on him,"  
"I-I understand," Shikamaru said.  
Tsunade walked over to her desk and opened up one of the drawer. Reaching inside, she produced a map and took it out. Fetching a pen, she made an large 'X' on a Northern most tip of 'Banishment Peninsula'. She then drew what looked like a squiggly line from the 'X' all the way down to where Hidden Leaf Village was located on the map.  
"The temple is located here by the 'X'," Tsunade said, "This line his is the most likely path Sasuke will take. Take this path and be on the lookout for him and kill him at all costs should you come in contact with him,"  
Shikamaru said nothing.  
"You are not to question him or try and convince him back to the village," Tsunade said, "It was his choice and this is his consequences. You're to carry out your mission to the fullest, do you understand?"  
Shikamaru paused for a moment before he nodded, "Yes, I understand,"  
Tsunade regarded Shikamaru for a moment, noticing that Shikamaru meant his every words, that he would take the mission seriously and will do whatever was in his power to see to it to the end.  
She made a shooing motion, "Go, and good luck,"  
Shikamaru exited the office. Once outside, he bumped into Sakura. She had been standing outside the door the whole time. She had been the person that had gone out to get Shikamaru in the first place when Tsunade asked her to quickly fetch him.  
"So, how did it go?" Sakura asked, "It sounded like she had a mission for you,"  
"She did," Shikamaru nodded, "I'm expected to assemble a team with two more people,"  
"What's the mission?" Sakura asked, "Do you need my help?"  
Shikamaru was silent for a moment, "Sorry, but I can't tell you what the mission is. The Hokage said it's to be classified,"  
Actually, he definitely didn't want to tell her. He knew she had a thing for Sasuke and the thought of him being on a mission to actually kill him would definitely not sit well with her. "Oh," Sakura said, a bit disappointed, "Well, how about you let me in on your team? That way, it'll be okay for you to tell me,"  
"Nope," Shikamaru said, "Can't do that either. I need to assemble strong team-  
members,"  
"What did you say?" Sakura suddenly became angry, "You don't consider me strong enough person to be on your team?" Shikamaru realized he had accidentally put his foot in his mouth and needed to say something to get out of it.  
"Look, I don't have time to stand around and chat," he said quickly, "I'm sorry, but I have to go. Goodbye,"  
With that said, Shikamaru quickly ran off, grateful that he had managed to get away from that situation unscathed.  
"Lee,"  
Lee turned around when he heard someone call his name. He had been in the middle of doing some calisthenics out by an open field near this river when someone called out to him.  
Shikamaru ran across the field and came to a stop in front of Lee.  
"Shikamaru, what are you doing here?" Lee asked.  
"How're you doing?" Shikamaru asked, not bothering to answer Lee's initial question, "Has your injuries healed correctly? You look like you were training quite intensely, as if you had never been injured in the first place,"  
Lee smiled, "I'm doing fine. I actually feel better than ever before. I bumped into this guy named Ranma. He was that person that showed up during the Chuunin tournament. He somehow fixed me up as good as new, perhaps even better than new,"  
Shikamaru said, "That's good to hear,"  
"Congratulations on being promoted to Chuunin," Lee said happily.  
Shikamaru thought, "There's nothing all that great about it. Had I known it would be this much trouble for me, I wouldn'tve tried so hard during the Chuunin tournament. Frankly, I still don't see why they promoted me even though I threw the match against Temari,"  
Lee said eagerly, "Don't say that. You'll be a great Chuunin. The elders saw potential in you and knew you would be a good for a promotion,"  
Shikamaru simply shrugged.  
"So how come you're here?" Lee asked, "Are you looking for someone?"  
"I came here to ask you something," Shikamaru said, "I need to assemble a team for this mission I've been given and I'd like you to be on the team?"  
"Me? Really?" Lee seemed genuinely surprised, pointing to himself. Shikamaru wondered if people teamed up with Lee a lot. Lee acted like he was expecting himself to be the person last picked for a team sport and was genuinely surprised someone picked him first.  
"Yeah, you," Shikamaru said, "Are you up to it?"  
"Of course," Lee said, "What's the mission?"  
"I'll explain later," Shikamaru said, "C'mon, let's get going. I have one more person I need to ask to the team,"  
"Who?" Lee asked.  
"Neji,"

Neji was sitting in a meditative posture in a small forest located just outside Hidden Leaf Village when he suddenly sensed a rock flying straight toward his head and quickly caught it in his hand.  
"If you intend to attack me, throwing a rock is useless," Neji said in a cold voice as he slowly got up to his feet, talking toward some nearby bushes.  
From out of the bushes stood Shikamaru, flinging a rock up and down in one hand.  
"I guess nothing gets by you, huh?" Shikamaru smirked, "I see you're still as strong as ever, despite your loss to Naruto during the Chuunin tournament,"  
"What do you want?" Neji asked. While he didn't dislike Shikamaru, that didn't mean he needed to be friendly to him either. Besides, Shikamaru threw a rock at him in the first place.  
Neji said, "Lee, you can come out now too. I know you're there,"  
"That's what I expect from my rival!" Lee said happily, "If you didn't detected me, I would be very disappointed,"  
"Why're you two here?" Neji asked impatiently.  
Shikamaru said, "I'm here to ask you to join up with the two of us. I've been given a mission and am expected to assemble a team with two extra people. I want you and Lee on my team,"  
"A mission? What kind of mission?" Neji asked, a bit curious. "I can't tell you," Shikamaru said, "I'll tell you only if you accept joining my team. If you're not interested in joining us, you might as well tell us now so I can go on and ask the next person on my list,"  
Neji smirked, intrigued.  
"I accept," Neji said, getting up to his feet.  
"Good, welcome to the team then," Shikamaru said.  
"What's this mission about?" he asked.  
"Follow me," Shikamaru said, "I'll explain on the way,"  
Lee and Neji both followed Shikamaru, surprised that the didn't seem to have any problem listening to and following Shikamaru. "We are to head out North," Shikamaru said, "Our mission entails us assassinating someone,"  
Neji asked, "Who? Who are we expected to kill?"  
Shikamaru was silent for a moment.  
"Sasuke,"  
"What the hell?" Ranma said in surprise, taking a tentative step backwards.  
In front of him was Naruto with this flaming orange aura surrounding him. It was an aura Ranma had never seen before to the young boy. There was such a powerful essence of ki to that aura that even Ranma was taken aback.  
Little did Ranma know that Naruto was basically beyond the edge of consciousness. He had been beaten so badly that Ranma started worrying that Naruto would actually allow himself to be killed than to actually give up.  
Several times Ranma had contemplated simply pressing Naruto's sleep pressure points and ending the fight but decided against it. If Naruto were to be defeated, he deserved to be defeated in flaming glory. Naruto's resilience had surprised Ranma well beyond his initial expectations. On many times, Ranma had struck Naruto with devastating force, expecting Naruto to be unable to get back up, only to see Naruto slowly get back up to his feet again and again and again.  
Ranma didn't know a single person that had more resilience than Naruto. Heck, even Ranma and Ryoga had given up on their battles after having taken too much damage. After receiving so much damage, one started thinking that it wasn't worth it to continue on and it was better to simply give up.  
Naruto's tenacity reminded him of a challenge he had undertaken once.  
Ranma and Ryoga had once challenged each other to swim as far as possible off the coast of Japan, to see who would chicken out first and turn back around. After nearly swimming halfway across the Pacific Ocean, Ranma had given up and turned back around. When he asked Ryoga how the heck he could keep going on and push the knowledge of having to swim back, Ryoga had said he swam believing that he would be able to cross the Pacific Ocean all the way to the other side. He had never thought of it being better to give up and turning back.  
That was how Naruto was like. It was as if he believed it was best to continue on no matter what and not think about it being better to give up. Exactly how Naruto managed to keep digging deep inside himself to get back up time and time again was almost beyond Ranma's comprehension.  
Ranma had to admire Naruto. When he was Naruto's age, he would had given up long ago. Seeing Naruto continue on made Ranma realize that Naruto was actually stronger than Ranma in every way when he was Naruto's age.  
"I can't go on anymore," Naruto said weakly, "This is going to be my last barrage,"  
Ranma smirked. It seemed like Ranma had finally found out that Naruto did have an upper limit and can not surpass it. Everyone had an upper limit just shy of death and it seemed like Naruto had finally reached it.  
"What is this?" Ranma asked of the flaming aura surrounding Naruto.  
"You'll see," Naruto said weakly, smirking.  
Ranma readied himself, expecting some kind of super powerful ki-blast or such. Perhaps he had underestimated Naruto once again and that this aura was the ki he had drawn in over the course of the battle, that Naruto could draw in ki a lot faster than expected and had been hiding that fact all along.  
Ready for almost anything, Ranma was unprepared for what came next.  
Naruto seemed to disappear and reappear right in front of him, covering the distance separating them in a fraction of a second. While Ranma was used to seeing Ryoga use such speed, he was caught completely off-guard at seeing Naruto able to use such speed. His gross underestimation of Naruto's fastest speed made him unable to react to his attack.  
Glowing red with the chakra from the Nine-Tails surrounding him, Naruto dashed forward and struck Ranma with an open-palm strike right in the chest with all his might, sending Ranma flying bodily backwards through the air.  
Ranma ended up sailing across the entire length of the open field where they were fighting and crashed through more than a dozen trees before finally bouncing off one and falling to the ground. His back was torn up from slamming into so many trees, a tree falling down on top of him after he had partially destroyed it after bouncing off it.  
Shizune, whom had seen this happen from a short distance away, had her jaw wide open with shock, "My God!"  
The attack Naruto had executed on Ranma was very reminiscent of a similar attack Tsunade had done on Ranma when she had actually thought Ranma was trying to murder Naruto. To her surprise, it actually seemed stronger than Tsunade's own attack. This meant quite a bit since Tsunade was basically ungodly strong, able to create massive crevice in the ground with a simple finger.  
From Shizune's point of view, it seemed like Naruto had somehow managed to emulate one of Tsunade's attack as his own and use it against someone. To be able to use such an attack in such a short period of time was thought to be impossible but Naruto seemed to have done it somehow.  
Naruto could be seen swaying back and forth, his knees weak and basically unable to hold up his bodyweight. After a few moments of swaying, he toppled over and fell forward onto his stomach, unconscious, too exhausted to continue on. That last attack had been his final attack, having drained him of every last bit of energy he had in that small frame of his.  
"Naruto!" Shizune rushed forward to kneel by his side, "Are you okay?"  
Ton-Ton came out from the nearby trees and stopped by Naruto's side as well.  
Shizune gently turned his over and onto his back, checking his pulse. The pulse, while a bit weak and hard to detect, was steady. She sighed in relief when she noticed the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest seemed to indicate that he had gone into deep sleep.  
"Ton-Ton, stay here," Shizune said to the pig as it sniffed at Naruto's unconscious form, "Watch over Naruto. I'm going to the river to fetch some water,"  
Shizune rushed off, disappearing into the nearby woods.  
A few minutes later, she reemerged, carrying with her a small damp piece of cloth. She gently folded it and placed it over Naruto's forehead. As she tended to Naruto, she caught sight of Ranma as he slowly staggered across the open field toward where they were.  
"Man, I can't believe how hard he hits," Ranma said in a weak voice.  
"You look like crap," Shizune said. Ranma looked to be in really bad shape, bleeding all over, one arm hanging limply down his side, his other arm clutching at his side. His clothes were stained badly with his blood.  
"I feel like crap too," Ranma tried to joke, much to no avail.  
"Well, it looks like you won this battle," Shizune stated.  
"Yeah, I guess I did," Ranma said softly He glanced down at Naruto's unconscious form, smiling warmly.  
"You put up a good fight, Naruto,"

new stuff 4/25

Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee hopped from tree branch to tree branch as the three of them headed North. They had no real idea where they were but knew that they were heading in the right direction. Just below them was a dirt trail that they had been following for the past few hours.  
Little did they know that that dirt trail had been the exact same dirt trail Ranma, Shizune, Naruto, and Ton-Ton had traversed only a few days earlier. Of course, they weren't looking for Ranma and his group. They were on the lookout for Sasuke.  
"Let's stop for a moment," Shikamaru said, "I need to catch my breath,"  
Shikamaru took a moment to lean up against a tree trunk as he stopped on a large branch, taking the time to catch his breath. His breathing was more labored than the other two, Shikamaru not having trained himself physically like the other two.  
"Che," Neji said in distain, "What kind of ninja are you if we have to stop running after several hours so you can catch your breath? Every time we stop so you can catch your breath, that means we trail farther and farther behind from Sasuke,"  
Lee came to Shikamaru's defense, "Just leave him alone, we're all tired from all this running,"  
"Look, I don't even want to be here," Shikamaru said to Neji, "This mission was basically dumped on me. So what if I can't keep running forever like you can. And for your information, I could've declined this mission if I wanted to, despite the fact that I know that we're going to be doing a lot of running to catch up to him, but I took it anyway,"  
Lee grinned when he noticed Neji had nothing to say in response. "Well, if you don't want to be here, then why did you choose this mission in the first place?" Neji asked, "I get the impression that you don't want to be on a mission in the first place,"  
"Of course I would rather not be doing a mission than doing a mission," Shikamaru responded, "I would much rather just stay at home playing Go or such instead of out here in the woods, running for several hours straight, looking for a friend and having to kill him,"  
"Well, I guess that's where you and I differ," Neji said, "If Sasuke knew the consequences of defecting, then so be it,"  
"You're so cold, Neji," Lee said, "Surely, there must be some other way of dealing with this,"  
Shikamaru shook his head, "Unfortunately, I've tried to think of all the possible different course of actions we could take and all of them are no good. This is basically a no-win situation. If Sasuke lives, the risk of Orochimaru getting his hands on him is too great,"  
"We should try and convince him to come back with us," Lee said.  
"That's no use because, knowing Sasuke's personality, he will only defect again, and again, and again, and so on," Shikamaru said, "Killing him is the only way of preventing Orochimaru from getting his hands on him,"  
Lee asked, "What will happen if he does find Sasuke before us?"  
"I'm not too sure," Shikamaru said, "I assume he will probably become even more powerful than he already is and will attack the village again. We can't have something like that happening. We can prevent all of this from happening by carrying out our orders and killing him. It can save many many lives in the long run,"  
Neji smirked, "The life of many outweigh the life of one,"  
Shikamaru sighed, "Unfortunately, in this situation, I have to reluctantly agree,"  
"Do you have any plans on what we do after we bump into him?" Neji said wryly, "Since you're the leader and tactician of this team, one would figure you should have a plan,"  
Shikamaru shook his head, "I have no plan. I'll come up with on after we find him. That's why it's important that once we find him, we not attack him and just hang back so I can assess the situation and come up with a plan accordingly,"  
Lee smiled, "Hearing you say something like that, I guess the elders were wise in choosing to promote you to Chuunin level,"  
Shikamaru said.  
"Even though I may be a Chuunin, that doesn't mean I have to like it,"

Sasuke came to a sliding halt.  
He found himself near the edge of a large crater. He was around a mile and a half outside a nearby village when he came across this crater. The crater was definitely unnatural and looked to have been newly formed. There were no forms of vegetation growing within the crater.  
"What the heck happened here?" Sasuke asked, crouching down and touching the soil. The sight of the crater was a rather disturbing sight to behold. Whatever had caused such destruction must have been extremely powerful. It made him wish there was someone nearby so he could ask what had happened there and what could have possible have caused it.  
Little did Sasuke realize that he was looking at the giant crater that had resulted due to Naruto and Ranma, when they had accidentally blown up that backpack full of explosive wards not too long ago. The crater was merely a sign of Ranma's and Naruto's idiotic actions.  
Realizing that he didn't have time to waste, Sasuke quickly headed off, continuing out with his journey North.  
Naruto groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. His entire body ached with a pain he could definitely get used to not having to experience. He found himself lying on his back, staring up at the inside of a tent. He recognized the interior of the tent. He was in the tent he and Ton-Ton seemed to share on several occasions over the course of their journey.  
Sitting upright, he fought back the bolts of pain shooting through his body as he made his way out of the tent. Once outside, he noticed that it was late out, late in the evening, almost night time. The sky was had a reddish hue to it, sun setting in the distant horizon.  
Looking around, he noticed that there was campfire nearby. Sitting on a small log close to the fire was Shizune. By Shizune's side was Ton-Ton as it slept soundly on the ground, enjoying the attention Shizune was giving it as she pet its head constantly.  
"You're finally awake," Shizune said to Naruto.  
"How long was I out?" Naruto asked, slowing climbing out of the tent and approaching the campfire, "Man, my head is killing me,"  
Shizune smiled slightly, "All morning and afternoon. After what you've been through, I'm surprised that only your head is killing you. How do you feel?"  
"I feel horrible. My head isn't the only thing that's killing me. My whole body aches," Naruto said, rubbing at his shoulders. He looked around for Ranma, "Where's Ranma?"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"Who won the match?" Naruto asked after a moment, "I remember hitting Ranma really really hard and passing out shortly afterwards. Did that blow manage to knock him out before I passed out?"  
Shizune gave a sad shake of the head, "Sorry, but you lost the fight,"  
"Oh," Naruto felt disappointed in himself. He had given his very best and it was still not good enough. Even when he had used the powers of the Nine-Tails to boost his power levels up dramatically, it was still not enough. "You did really well though," Shizune said after a moment.  
"Yeah, well, it seems like my best wasn't good enough," Naruto said sadly. He looked so sad that he looked to be on the brink of tears. He had aspired to become the most powerful fighter that ever existed. To think that there was someone like Ranma wandering around made him doubt that he could ever reach that level. It really hurt to be humbled in such a way.  
"The skill gap is very wide," Shizune stated him, "You need to keep in mind that he has decades of experience over you. You should be proud of yourself. The only person I've ever seen hit Ranma was our Hokage, Tsunade. You managed to hit him more than a dozen times,"  
Naruto muttered, "Yeah, well hitting someone means nothing if it has no effect,"  
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Shizune said, "Do you even realize how far you've come along?"  
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.  
Shizune gestured toward the surrounding area. Looking around, Naruto realized that the campsite was actually set up near the edge of the open field where he and Ranma had fought. Littered all around were craters and destroyed tress and such, collateral damage caused from their fight.  
"Look at the carnage around us," Shizune said, "This was caused from your fight against Ranma,"  
Naruto said, "Yeah, most of it caused from Ranma hitting me into trees and such. What's your point?"  
"Who do you know can survive getting hit so hard and being sent through as many tress as you have and continue to get up?" Shizune said, "Besides Ranma that is,"  
Naruto could think of no one.  
"You may have lost, but you fought better than anyone could have possible have fought," Shizune said, "That's why should shouldn't be ashamed of yourself. You did a great job,"  
"Well, even if I did do well, that still doesn't exclude the fact that I lost," Naruto muttered, angry at himself. He had thrown everything he got at Ranma and it was not enough. Ranma had grossly underestimated Naruto's abilities and Naruto had managed to capitalize on it and catch Ranma completely off-guard, hitting him with everything he got. The fact that he had caught Ranma completely off-guard and hit him with everything he had and still unable to defeat Ranma was enough to humble even someone that used to be as arrogant as Naruto.  
Naruto looked around, "Who put up this campsite?" he asked.  
"Ranma and I put it up," Shizune said, "Ranma pitched the tent. He put you in the tent while you were unconscious. I made the campfire. And speaking of which, are you hungry? There's some food still hot from the meal I cooked up before,"  
Naruto asked, "Where's Ranma? I don't see him around,"  
"He left," Shizune said after a moment.  
"For where?" he asked.  
Shizune said softly, "He left for 'Banishment Temple about an hour ago,"  
"What? Why?" Naruto shouted, "Why'd he go and leave without us?"  
Shizune gave him a sad look.  
"Because, he plans on going back to his home world alone,"

new stuff 4/26

In an undisclosed location located deep within a dense forest, there was a small structure that was built into the trunk of a large tree that lead down deeply underground. Inside that structure was Orochimaru's lair, his base of operations and recovery for the time behind.  
At the moment, in a dark and windowless room, wrapped in bandages, Orochimaru sat in a chair. He was in the process of recovering, having recently taken on the possession of a new body, a very strong body, but not the body he currently desired. He desired to take over Sasuke's body but took over this new body for the time being so that he now had use of his arms once again.  
The door on the end of the room opened up as light from the hallway filtered into the room. There stood a figure in that doorway and that figure was Kabuto, Orochimaru's right-hand man.  
The young white-haired man entered the room and approached Orochimaru, a small smile on his face.  
"What do you want?" Orochimaru said coldly, "It better be good,"  
"How goes your recovery?" Kabuto asked, "Have you gotten used to your new body?"  
Orochimaru didn't seem intent on answering that question as he said, "Well, what do you want?"  
"I have good news," Kabuto said, "It seems the group have found Sasuke. It seems he has defected from Hidden Leaf Village all on his own,"  
The four that Kabuto was mentioning was the group that had been sent to retrieve Sasuke in the first place. Unfortunately, they had been easily defeated by Naruto and Ranma and lost Sasuke in the process. Although Orochimaru had been extremely angry with them, he had given them another task, to keep watch over Sasuke from a distance and observe him. They were expected to report any news on Sasuke's actions or whereabouts back to Orochimaru whenever something unusual happened.  
"Where is he now?" Orochimaru asked, feeling a bit excited, "What do you mean he defected?"  
With Sasuke holed up in Hidden Leaf Village, there was really nothing Orochimaru could do to get him. Although he had very powerful subordinates working for him, Orochimaru knew that it would be near impossible to capture Sasuke while he resided in the village. He needed to wait for an opportunity to capture him when he was outside the village, perhaps on a mission or such.  
"He is currently heading North," Kabuto answered, "We have no idea where he's headed. I surmise it's 'Banishment Peninsula' but I have no idea for what reasons that might be,"  
Orochimaru smirked, "Towards 'Banishment Peninsula', huh? That's not too far from here,"  
"I recommend you send the group in to intercept him," Kabuto stated, "He's alone and now's the best time to strike,"  
"And what about 'Him'?" Orochimaru asked coldly, referring to 'Him' as Ranma, the variable that seems to be nothing but a thorn by his side. The fact that he had no real idea who Ranma was or what he was capable of made it hard for Orochimaru to think of a plan in dealing with him.  
Kabuto said, "We lost his whereabouts shortly after he and Naruto had left Hidden Leaf Village. The only thing we do know is that they were headed North. There might be some connection between him heading North and Sasuke heading North several days later but I can't even make a guess as to what it might be,"  
"Is there anything of importance between where Sasuke is now and where he's headed?" Orochimaru asked.  
Kabuto shrugged, "I don't know,"  
"Why do I keep you around if you're so useless to me?" Orochimaru said in annoyance.  
"You keep me around because I'm more useful to you than not," Kabuto said with a smirk, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose.  
Orochimaru said, "Okay, it seems like now is a good time to strike. Even if 'He' might be nearby to help Sasuke out, it's something I'm willing to risk. Get everyone ready,"  
Orochimaru could be seen slowly removing the bandages that covered his arms and body.  
"Everybody?" Kabuto asked, "You mean you plan on taking part in this as well?"  
"I don't have much time. This body I'm using is only temporary," Orochimaru said, "With Sasuke so closely within my grasp, I can't afford to lose him a second time around. If those four fools couldn't stop 'Him' from getting back Sasuke, there's no telling that they would be able to stop 'Him' against should he show up. Should 'He' show up, I have every intention of taking care of 'Him' myself," "Very well," Kabuto asked.  
"Also, go wake Kimimaro," Orochimaru said, "He will be helping out as well,"  
"Kimimaro?" Kabuto was surprised to hear that, "Are you sure? He's still sleeping,"  
"Yes," Orochimaru said coldy, "I have one more use for him,"  
"It's most unfortunately that he suffers from that illness he has," Kabuto said.  
"Yes," Orochimaru said, "It still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up thinking how we lost him. I still believe that he was the body I desired the most, a body even more powerful than Sasuke's,"  
Kimimaro was basically Orochimaru's trump card. His most powerful follower, Kimimaro actually possessed the most powerful body and abilities this world had seen. Unfortunately, he suffered from a great illness and was dying. That was why Orochimaru was after Sasuke, because he could not take over Kimimaro's dying body even though it possessed much more power than Sasuke's. Kimimaro didn't have long to live and Orochimaru had no intention of taking on a body like that.  
"Very well, I'll go wake Kimimaro," Kabuto headed for the door, "I'm sure he'll be happy to know that he can serve you one last time,"  
The Akatsuki Organization, an organization that consisted of nine members, each and every one of them considered S-Class criminals from their respective countries. Itachi was currently a member of the organization. Orochimaru used to be a part of the organization but had left a long time ago to pursue his own ambitions.  
The organization had a leader, a lone member that was considered the most powerful of the group. Itachi was not that leader. He was actually one of the weaker members, some of the other members older and more experienced and therefore more powerful than him.  
The organization itself was considered by all that know of its mysterious existence to be the single strongest entity in the world. If all nine members decided to invade a village, even a village as powerful as Hidden Leaf Village, there was a very high chance they would be unable to repel such a powerful offense that those nine members could create.  
As one of the members, Itachi was expected to find and capture Naruto because Naruto possessed the power of the Nine-Tails. The Nine-Tails was one of the Nine Demons that could be found in this world, each member on his or her own quest to find and capture one of the Nine Demons and basically steal their respective Demon's powers to be spread among the other eight members.  
Itachi had no intention of doing this. He had every intention of betraying them and taking all of the Nine-Tails' powers into himself and becoming far and beyond more powerful than the entire organization combined and kill each and every one of them.  
While the organization seemed rather chaotic since there was a chance each respective member might betray the others. The fact that betraying the organization meant betraying its eight other members usually meant an inevitable death. Itachi was ready to take that risk. In an undisclosed location, in the middle of an open field located out in the middle of nowhere, eight individuals approached the center of that field, each entering from a different direction. They were eight of the nine members of the Akatsuki Organization, showing up there because they had been summoned there for a very important meeting.  
Standing in the middle of the field was Kisame. He wasn't a real member of the Akatsuki Organization. He was seen as nothing more than an associate to Itachi, and indirect member. "Why have you summoned us for a meeting like this?" one of them asked. "Thank you for seeing me," Kisame bowed respectfully, daring not to make any eye contact with any of the members. "There's something I found out about Itachi that I think should be brought to your attention?" Kisame said softly.  
"And what might that be?" another one asked.  
Kisame wasn't someone that would believe the ramblings of Shizune and Naruto and what they said. Their ramblings had merely made him think about the possibility of something like that happening and made him analyze his dealings with Itachi. Recalling how Itachi did act as if he had a hidden agenda, Kisame wanted to bring this to their attention, that that hidden agenda might exactly be what Shizune and Naruto had mentioned.  
Kisame cleared his throat.  
"I have reason to believe Itachi intends to betray the Akatsuki Organization,"

Naruto made his way North.  
It hurt to move but he managed to fight back the pain his body was experiencing and continue on. His body felt very sore, akin to the way one would feel after working out at the gym for the very first time or after a long hiatus.  
Shizune, who was running alongside him, Ton-Ton on her back, said, "It's futile to try and catch up to Ranma. He had a head start and is probably already at the temple by now. It'll take us a few hours to get there,"  
"I don't care," Naruto said stubbornly, "I'm going to try. I want to see this through to the end. Even if Ranma never intended for me to go back with him, this is no way to end things,"  
Shizune smirked, "I'm surprised how much you've grown over such a short period of time,"  
She had decided to take a neutral approach to the situation. While she was worried that Naruto was biting off more than he could chew, heading straight toward 'Banishment Temple' where Itachi was expected to be, she knew that it was useless to try and stop him. Besides, she wanted to see this to the end.  
She wasn't satisfied with how Ranma simply left. Sure, he said goodbye to her and asked her to watch over Naruto, but that wasn't enough for her. "Naruto?" came a voice.  
Naruto and Shizune stopped running and turned their attention toward the voice. They found themselves gazing up toward the trees where a shadowy figure emerged and landed nearby.  
Naruto instantly recognized the figure as the moonlight reflected off his face, his features easily seen.  
"Sasuke? What the hell are you doing here?"

new stuff 4/28

Sasuke regarded Naruto for a moment, a bit surprised at how differently the young boy looked. There was an aura to him, like he had grown quite a bit since the Chuunin tournament.  
"That's really none of your concern," Sasuke said. There was no reason for him to tell Naruto he was on his way to 'Banishment Temple', hoping to find Itachi there so he could kill him.  
"You helped me out the other day," Sasuke said with reluctance, "Thanks,"  
"What was that?" Naruto was surprised to hear, "Did you just thank me?"  
Sasuke seemed annoyed, "Don't go pushing your luck,"  
Shizune noticed the animosity Naruto and Sasuke seemed to have toward one another. It seemed more like a rivalry, a bit like how Ranma described his relationship with Ryoga. While somewhat friends, they seemed more like reluctant friends.  
"It seems rather odd that you're all the way out here," Naruto commented, "Shouldn't you be back home in the hospital recovering?"  
"I'm fine," Sasuke said. He felt fine and that was what mattered.  
Sasuke regarded the young woman and pig standing near Naruto.  
"If y'wanna know, that's Shizune and Ton-Ton," Naruto said.  
"I never asked," Sasuke said coldly. Deep down inside, he couldn't help but feel some sort of resentment toward Naruto. Sasuke had never figured Naruto would have grown so much over such a short period of time. The fact that he had actually been one of the people that was involved in getting him back to Hidden Leaf Village shortly after he had defected was something he couldn't ignore either.  
Hearing the name suddenly rung a bell.  
"Shizune, huh? So you're the one that wrote that letter," Sasuke smirked.  
Shizune asked, "Letter, what letter?"  
"The letter to the Hokage about my brother, Itachi," Sasuke said, "I happened to have read that letter,"  
"Wait, is that why you're here?" Naruto started putting the pieces together, "You're on your way North to find your brother?" Aware that Sasuke hated his brother and wanted to kill him, that was the only logical reasoning behind why he was here in the first place. It seemed rather odd that Sasuke would go so far out of his way to say thank you for what Naruto and Ranma had done to help him out.  
"I guess it doesn't matter now if you know or not," Sasuke said, "So, yes, that's exactly where I'm headed, to, what was it called, 'Banishment Temple' if I'm correct,"  
"Wait, let me get this straight," Shizune stated, surprised to hear what she was saying, "You're on your way to 'Banishment Temple' to kill your brother?"  
Sasuke nodded, "Yes,"  
Naruto looked at Sasuke sadly.  
"You're an idiot," Naruto said coldly, surprised he was actually defending Itachi, a man that had tried to kidnap him on several occasions, "You don't know anything about your brother,"  
"What?" Sasuke was surprised to hear that from out of no where, "What do you know about him? Tell me!"  
"No," Naruto said, "Your hatred of your brother will blind you to the truth anyway so I'm not even gonna bother telling you,"  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke sneered.  
"Your brother isn't exactly who you think he is," Naruto said, wondering if he was already letting on more than he should. "Tell me!" Sasuke said angrily.  
Naruto shook his head, "No. I can't,"  
"Maybe I should just force the information out of you," Sasuke said coldly.  
Naruto couldn't help but feel sorry for Sasuke. It was obvious that his evident hatred for his brother was clouding his judgment and even his conscience. Despite this, Naruto wasn't intimidated.  
"I'd like to see you try," Naruto crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
Sasuke narrowed his eyes toward Naruto. After a moment, he shrugged.  
"Bah, I'm sure whatever you know is useless to me," Sasuke waved a hand dismissively, "You're just wasting my time. I don't have time to sit around here and chat anyway,"  
Sasuke headed off before Naruto had a chance to stop him.  
Naruto could feel the blood draining from his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he somehow picked up through Ranma.  
"I can't help but feel that that things are gonna get complicated,"

'Banishment Temple' didn't look like a temple one would envision when they heard the word temple.  
It was a large structure built into the side of a rocky cliff. Ranma had a good reason to believe that this was the place he was looking for. The rocky cliff was basically located in the middle of nowhere, nothing but open area surrounding the cliff for miles in every direction.  
Standing outside the front of the stony structure was none other than Itachi. There were around thirty bodies strewn about. They were the bodies of the hapless members of the 'Committee' in charge of overseeing 'Banishment Temple'. Dozens of craters littered the front of the temple with weapons strewn about. It seemed like the 'Committee' members were weapon-users and had tried to defend their temple from Itachi, losing their lives in the process.  
"Goddamn, what the hell didja do?" Ranma asked, feeling a sense of anger toward Itachi, "Don't tell me you killed all of them,"  
"They were in my way," Itachi said coldly, "What I do is my prerogative," This surprised Ranma slightly. He had originally believed there the 'Committee' that oversaw 'Banishment Temple' would be very skilled fighters, there to protect the temple from people wanting to steal the 'Tool of Banishment' for their own personal use and gain. The thought that so many protectors had been so easily dispatched led Ranma to believe that they were either incredibly weak or Itachi was simply that overpowering. Judging from the familiar looking craters littering the front of the temple, Ranma had a funny feeling it was the latter, and that Itachi seemed to have used his newly acquired ki-blast without discretion.  
"You didn't hafta go and kill people!" Ranma shouted in annoyance. He felt partially responsible for all those deaths. Itachi had learned to use a ki-blast because of Ranma and the ability to shoot ki-blasts might have been the key ability Itachi had in killing so many people.  
Ranma walked up to one of the bodies and checked for a pulse. To his surprise, he found one. While the guy was battered and badly hurt, he was alive nonetheless.  
Ranma went over and checked another guy that lay nearby, hoping to find him alive as well. Deep down inside, he figured that perhaps Itachi wasn't as evil as people believed.  
The man was dead and no pulse could be found.  
"What is this?" Ranma asked, "You let some live and some die?"  
Itachi shrugged. Ranma's lips became a thin line. From what he could ascertain, it seemed like Itachi didn't care if he killed or not. So long as an opponent was no longer a threat, whether or not he lived through the ordeal was of no real concern to Itachi. Ranma tried to tell himself that he should at least feel glad that Itachi didn't seem to relish on killing.  
"You didn't need to kill some of 'em," Ranma said, "They were just protecting the temple,"  
"It bothers me none if some of them died," Itachi shrugged, "I had no real intention of killing them, but if some died during the battle, then so be it," Ranma said, "Man, you have some messed up way of thinking. I should beat the shit outta you to avenge those that died here needlessly,"  
"You think that threat scares me?" Itachi said coldly.  
Ranma sighed, "Man, something must really be wrong with me to wanna help you,"  
"And just why do you intend to so-called 'help' me?" Itachi said, "And let's keep in mind that I only offered to meet up with you here. That doesn't mean I'll accept your help,"  
Ranma said, "I'm offering to help you because you're almost exactly like me. I see some of myself in you. For some stupid reasons, I have this crazy idea that if you get the help you need, you'd do more good for this world than bad and actually do great things. Of course, given how far down the wrong path your damn quest for vengeance has taken you, I kinda wonder if I should even bother. At this point in you're life, you're almost beyond help,"  
"Don't talk about me like you know me," Itachi said in annoyance.  
"Actually, I can talk to you like I know you better than anyone else," Ranma said, "We're a lot a like actually. More alike than I even wanna admit,"  
Itachi's interest was piqued, "And what makes you say that?"  
"Because I went through similar experiences as you," Ranma said, "C'mon, we talked about it when we were eating at that diner the other day. You and I are basically a product of our past experiences,"  
Itachi laughed, "Okay, suppose you are telling the truth and that your friends and family were killed. Just because we shared similar experiences, that still doesn't make us alike,"  
Ranma said, "Yeah, right, whatever you say. I'm sure I know exactly how you feel on many occasions, like the times you're just walking along, doing nothing in particular, and suddenly remember how helpless you were in saving your parents' lives. For a good minute or so, you completely shut out the entire world and everything around you as you focus on that instance in time,"  
Itachi twitched slightly as Ranma's words hit a nerve.  
"What I find funny is how much hatred you can possibly harbor from your experiences," Ranma smirked, "If anything, I had it worse off than you. I lost everyone. At least you have your brother,"  
"Who says I have my brother?" Itachi forcefully laughed, "I might as well be as good as dead to him. He and I are no longer brothers. He may be a brother to me, but I'm not a brother to him,"  
Ranma said nothing. Realizing it was best to change the subject, he looked around and noticed Itachi was alone, "Where's your partner?"  
"I don't know," Itachi answered.  
"Hm, perhaps he's still unconscious," Ranma chuckled.  
"And what do you mean by that?" Itachi asked.  
Ranma said, "Kisame bumped into Naruto. They had a fight and Naruto defeated him,"  
"Hmph, pathetic," Itachi said. Kisame was a very strong fighter, provided he had his sword. Ever since he lost his sword, he was basically useless. It made him realize just how pathetic Kisame was, to rely on a weapon so much. It made him look down on Kisame because he had lost to some little boy like Naruto.  
"I guess you must've missed him," Ranma shrugged, "Naruto said he got in a fight with him in some park shortly after you split up with him and went with me,"  
Itachi recalled the time he was passing through a park on his way to his hotel and noticing the area being pretty torn up, as if a battle had occurred there. Perhaps what he had seen had been the result of Naruto's and Kisame's encounter.  
"I couldn't care less where he is," Itachi shrugged, "He knew where we were headed. I'm sure we will eventually meet," Itachi noticed Ranma was alone, "Where's Naruto?"  
Ranma laughed, "Ha, like I'd bring him here. Frankly, I don't trust you so I don't want you and him around each other. For all I know, you might up and kidnap Naruto while my back is turned,"  
Itachi said, "It doesn't matter if I can't get my hands on him now. I'll eventually find him. It's all a matter of time,"  
Ranma chuckled, "Well, unfortunately for you, you're gonna have your work cut out for ya. Naruto isn't nearly as weak as you take him for,"  
"I have no intentions of underestimating him," Itachi stated, "I'm very well aware of his potential, as I'm sure you're aware as well. Someone with the abilities of the Nine-Tails sealed within him is not someone to be taken lightly,"  
Ranma rubbed at his chest, recalling that last blow Naruto had landed on him. It hurt like hell and reminded him the power of a punch Ryoga usually threw. Sure, Ryoga could throw punches that powerful all day, but for someone young like Naruto to throw a single punch with so much force was quite impressive.  
"However, he's young and lacks experience," Itachi said.  
"True," Ranma said, "Afterall, experience is the hardest thing to acquire,"  
Itachi regarded Ranma. He hated to admit it, but that was why Ranma was so damn powerful, because of his experience. He was more experienced in battle than any opponent Itachi had ever met. His young body belied his age as he seemed to possess the experience of a few lifetimes.  
"So, now that it seems like you've taken out everyone here at the temple, I assume you've got your hands on the so-called 'Tool of Banishment'," Ranma said, "You have it, right?"  
Itachi said, "Yes, I do,"  
"Can I see it?" Ranma asked, curious if the object really was this world's version of the nanban mirror.  
"I don't see what the use in that is," Itachi said, "And, no, I have no intention of letting you see it,"  
The mirror was his trumpcard. Through the use of his acquired ability, the use of ki-blasts, he had been able to easily take out everyone protecting the temple. Now that he had the 'Tool of Banishment', he had a distinct advantage against Ranma.  
Ranma held his hand out, "Give it here,"  
Itachi laughed, "I don't think so,"  
"How's it useful to you?" Ranma asked, "Provided it's what I think it is, do you even have any idea how it works? Given your current situation, you took out all the members of 'Committee' so there's no one conscious or alive that can tell you how to use it,"  
Itachi said, "Do you take me for a fool? I'm not so stupid that I would take out the group of people without finding out exactly how to use it,"  
"Oh, so you know how to use it, huh?" Ranma asked, "I guess the people of the 'Committee' seemed to have a loose tongue. I figure people in charge of something as important as protecting an artifact used to banish creature or demons or things that can't be killed would die than to let the object fall in the wrong hands, let alone tell them how to use it,"  
Itachi smirked, "You'll be surprised at how easily I can extract information,"  
"Lemme guess, you used that Tsukiyomi technique of yours on him, huh?" Ranma asked.  
"How I got the information is of no concern to you," Itachi stated.  
Ranma was right. Itachi had used his Tsukiyomi technique to extract the information from one of the hapless members of the 'Committee'. It was the same technique he had used against Ranma on a couple of occasions. Of course, Ranma managed to resist it and actually came out of the ordeal simply angrier than before the technique was used on him.  
Thinking about that made Itachi a bit weary of Ranma's capabilities. To be able to withstand that technique and barely bat an eye to such a gruesome experience meant Ranma's threshold for pain must be out of this world.  
"Can you gimme the mirror?" Ranma asked.  
Itachi looked at Ranma liked he had grown a second head. The request was so preposterous it surprised Itachi a bit.  
"Look, long story short," Ranma said, "You're looking for the 'Tool of Banishment'. I'm looking for the 'Tool of Banishment'. If you show me what the item is and it turns out that it isn't what I'm looking for, I'll be on my way,"  
Ranma didn't want to fathom the thought of what he would do if it didn't turn out to be the nanban mirror.  
"And what if it is?" Itachi asked curiously.  
"Then you can give it to me," Ranma said, "That way, I can use it and we can go back to my world together since I know how to get there with it. Once on my world, I can get Skuld to talk to you and basically convince you not to try and resurrect your parents. You are planning on resurrecting your parents still, right?"  
"I have no intention of letting you or anyone convince me out of resurrecting my parents," Itachi said coldly, "What I do or don't do is my prerogative,"  
"So what's all this?" Ranma asked, "It's obvious you got the item well before I showed up. If you have no intention of letting me help you, then why did you wait up for me?"  
"I waited up to hear what you had to say," Itachi said.  
"I dunno about that," Ranma said, "I have a funny feeling you want to be helped but you've been on your own for so damn long that you don't even know how to accept it,"  
Itachi laughed, "Don't make me laugh. I don't need help from you. I never needed help from you,"  
"Maybe you should accept his help," came a voice from nearby, "Considering how much trouble you in right now,"  
Ranma, surprised that someone had gotten in so close to where he was without him sensing his presence, turned in the direction of the voice.  
Itachi and Ranma looked around them and saw eight shadowy figure seemingly appear from thin air, as if emerging from a tear in the fabric of space, all of them emerging so that the eight of them surrounded Itachi and Ranma. All eight figures looked completely different from one another, varying in many shapes and sizes.  
They ranged in sizes from as small as around five feet tall to as towering as ten feet tall, weighing as little as a measly hundred pounds to probably around as much as a eight hundred pounds.  
The color could be seen draining from Itachi's face as he recognized all eight individuals.  
"Who the hell are you guys?" Ranma asked curiously.  
The one of the members stepped spoke.  
"The Akatsuki,"

Naruto gritted his teeth as he ran Northward, hopping from tree branch to tree branch, trying to catch up to Sasuke. His body seemed to ache with every move he made. The fact that he was doing strenuous activity made it all the more painful. It also didn't help that he had Ton-Ton on his back.  
Shizune wasn't there, having gone on ahead to catch up to Sasuke. The both of them knew that Sasuke showing up at the temple where Ranma and Itachi were most likely at at the current moment would make things very complicated. It was best that Shizune try and stop him.  
Naruto cursed at himself at how slowly he was moving.  
"Damn, Ranma must've known he was gonna win," Naruto muttered to himself, "At this rate, Ranma will have gone back home before I make it there. This must've been his plan all alone,"  
As much as Naruto wanted to run faster, his body ached too much to do so.  
I'm still hurt, Naruto thought to himself. It'll take a good day or so of rest before I'll be able to run as quickly as I'm capable of. I need to try and think of a way of going quicker. Damn, after all this training I've gone through, I'm still handicapped by something like this. Ranma said I wasn't mentally ready to do what I'm actually physically capable of doing. How's that true in this matter when I'm thinking with all my might to force my body to move faster but it won't move any faster.  
Naruto stopped, "Waitaminute! That's what I'm doing wrong!"  
He needed to resort to his training. There was a way to overcome this hurtle and quite easily. Ranma had mentioned it to him on countless times before.  
Naruto placed Ton-Ton down on the branch, "Just wait here for a bit. I need to meditate,"  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times as if trying to tell him something or perhaps praising him on his sudden epiphany.  
Naruto got down into a sitting position and closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, clearing his mind, trying to draw in chakra from his surroundings.  
After a minute of meditating, Naruto found himself growing impatient, feeling like he was simply wasting his time. However, he knew that he wasn't all that skilled yet at drawing in chakra and continued on meditating, knowing that he needed more time.  
After a good five or so minutes, he started feeling the dull aching sensations to his body slowly starting to abate. It's working, Naruto thought. I can feel my body healing itself. This is incredible. I can't believe it's working. I'll be able to run at full speed before long.  
Ton-Ton made a noise, trying to tell him in its own language that it sensed three approaching figures heading in their direction.  
"Not now," Naruto told Ton-Ton, "I'm trying to concentrate,"  
Naruto continued to meditate, knowing that he needed only a few more minutes before he could continue his travel at full force. As he did so, he felt this incredible feeling of power entering his body, as if his body was magically healing itself, the aching pain disappearing, leaving behind only a lingering memory that the body had been hurt before.  
"Naruto?" came a voice.  
Naruto was startled out of his meditation, yelping in surprise. He ended up falling off the tree branch. Luckily for him, he managed to react in to and land safely on his feet.  
Looking around, Naruto tried to find out who had called his name, "Who goes there?"  
Realizing that Ton-Ton was alone and unprotected, Naruto quickly leapt up and landed on the tree branch where Ton-Ton was, vigil for anything suspicious. He wished it wasn't so dark out so that he could see more clearly.  
From out of the shadows emerged three figures, all three of them landing on a branch nearby. Naruto instantly recognized the three of them as the hopped off their branch and landed on his branch.  
"Shikamaru? Lee? Neji? What the hell are you doing out here?" Naruto asked in quick succession. "We were about to ask you the same thing," Shikamaru said, "And what was that glowing we saw?"  
"Huh? What glowing?" Naruto asked.  
"You were glowing blue," Shikamaru said, "What was that?"  
Naruto scratched his head, "Glowing? I was glowing? How's that possible? I was simply meditating,"  
The three young boys looked at one another. They had never seen something like that before, someone glowing blue simply through the use of meditation. It made them wonder what kind of training Naruto had been undergoing.  
"Lee, wow, what a surprise to see you?" Naruto said, "It seems like you're okay now. Are you three on some kinda mission?"  
"Why are you meditating out here?" Shikamaru asked.  
"I was healing myself," Naruto answered, "I was in this nasty battle against Ranma and...and basically got demolished. I'm all hurt and all so I'm healing myself right now by meditating,"  
"Healing yourself through meditation?" Neji said, "Good luck. Meditating helps a little but not that much,"  
Naruto smirked, "Heh, you're wrong,"  
"You got in a fight with Ranma?" Lee asked, "Is this the same Ranma that helped fix me up back at that florist?"  
Naruto was silent for a moment, "Yeah. It was basically a sparring session and he beat me pretty badly. I've got a long way to go,"  
Neji and Lee regarded Naruto oddly. They found it surprising how Naruto seemed to readily admit defeat. Naruto was the type of person who would try and fight the Hokage and simply say the Hokage got lucky when the Hokage defeated him and that he would definitely win in the rematch. The fact that Naruto admitted defeat was definitely something new. It made them see Naruto differently, as if he had somehow grown up slightly since they last saw him.  
"Are you hurt?" Shikamaru asked, reaching into one of the pockets of his flak jacket and producing a roll of bandages, "You need any bandages?"  
Lee and Neji looked at each other. At that moment, they realized that Shikamaru was born to be a good leader. The fact that he brought bandages along meant he thought ahead.  
Naruto rubbed at his shoulders, moving his arms around, "Nah, but thanks anyway. I feel much better now. Before, I felt like I could barely move. Man, I can't believe how much I can heal myself simply by meditating for a few minutes,"  
"Hm, I thought only medical ninjas could heal themselves quickly," Shikamaru stated, "And through the use of medical equipment. I've never heard of someone healing themselves through nothing but meditation,"  
"It's news to me," Lee concurred.  
"So, how come you guys are out here?" Naruto asked, "Are you on some kind of mission?"  
"Yes, we're looking for Sasuke," Lee blurted out.  
Shikamaru looked at Lee and gave him an annoyed look. Lee realized that he should not have said that. Afterall, the mission was considered classified. The fact that Naruto was their friend didn't mean they were obligated to tell him.  
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, "Oh, I saw him a short while ago. I'm actually chasing after him right now. Why are you after him?"  
"It's classified," Lee blurted out, trying to redeem himself for his foul up a second ago.  
Shikamaru slapped his forehead.  
"A classified mission?" Naruto asked, "What kinda mission?"  
"Forget about it," Shikamaru said, "We already said too much,"  
"Are you here to help him out?" Naruto asked.  
"Um, I guess you could say that," Shikamaru said, feeling bad about lying to Naruto.  
"Cool, we can all go together," Naruto said.  
Shikamaru thought about how complicated things might get if Naruto tagged along. If he found out about their mission, he would definitely not sit idle and let them carry it out. "You said you were hurt. Just continue to rest here," Shikamaru said, "We'll continue on and meet up with you later,"  
Naruto waved a dismissive hand, "Nah, don't worry about it. Sure, I'm still hurt, but no where near as hurt as I was a few minutes ago. C'mon, let's get going. We don't have much time to waste,"  
Naruto took a leap from the branch, landing on a branch almost a good hundred feet away from where he was standing, disappearing into the darkness beyond as he leapt off again from that branch.  
Neji, Shikamaru, and Lee had this rather surprised look on their faces at seeing Naruto do that. Naruto had just jumped farther in that single leap as they would in two leaps. Naruto's leg strength must be incredible to be able to jump that far in a single bound. They thought people around the Jounin level were capable of jumping that far.  
"Did you see that?" Lee said in surprise, "He jumped all the way over a hundred feet in one leap!"  
"Of course we saw that," Shikamaru said, "What the hell kind of training has Naruto been going through to made him capable of doing that?"  
As the three of the stood there, Naruto emerged from the darkness, landing on the branch.  
"Oops, I forgot Ton-Ton," Naruto had this embarrassed look on his face.  
The three of them watched as Naruto picked up the pig and place it up on his back, its front legs resting over his shoulders.  
"By the way, this is Ton-Ton," Naruto said.  
With that said, Naruto leapt off, jumping the same distance onto the branch he had landed on before, but this time, with Ton-Ton, an extra weight, on his back. Seeing such a feat happen left Neji and Shikamaru and Lee in a state of totally shock.  
Shikamaru was the first to formulate the words crossing his mind.  
"Man, just how much stronger did Naruto become since we last saw him?"

new stuff 4/29

"Itachi, do you care to explain yourself?" said a young long-haired woman. She had long blond hair that was actually longer than her body. Oddly enough, it never touched the ground, as if there was some invisible wind blowing against it at all times. She was dressed in skin-tight outfit that seemed designed for movement, leaving Ranma to believe she must have a special ability with her hair and was very fast.  
She looks like a long range specialist if she uses her hair, Ranma thought. If that's gonna be the case, it's gonna be a bit tricky getting in close to her. But once I get in close, it'll be cake.  
She noticed Ranma staring.  
"It seems you have a staring problem, boy," the woman said in annoyance. The way Ranma was oogling her seemed to anger her.  
Ranma turned his attention toward the other two women surrounding him and Itachi. His gaze rested on a woman with short brown hair. She had a cute face that was marred by a long scar running down one side of her face, passing right over one of her eyes. A quick glance at the callused knuckles of her hands made him realize she was a hand-to-hand combat specialist. She wore tight clothes as well, tight so it gave her quick mobility. It seemed like she had short hair for a reason, so her hair wouldn't get in her eyes and hinder her fighting abilities.  
Good, if she's a hand-to-hand, it'll be easy getting in close to her. I better watch out for whatever kinda punches she can throw because she probably has fists as strong as my own. He noticed the short-haired woman narrowing her eyes on Ranma, annoyed by his scrutinizing gaze. The fact that Ranma made no effort to hide the fact that he was staring annoyed her even more. The fact that the short-haired girl seemed annoyed by Ranma staring made him wonder if she was self-conscious of the scar running down the side of her face. Perhaps she believed Ranma was staring at her scar and not simply regarding her and assessing her and her abilities.  
Ranma turned his gaze on to the third woman of the group. She looked like a regular woman and had pink hair. She wore an outfit very similar to Ranma's own outfit and had a rather aloof look to her, like she couldn't care less what was happening around her. At the moment, she wasn't even paying attention to Ranma or Itachi. She was looking up at the sky, seemingly admiring the beauty. The girl reminded Ranma of Nene for some reason, not in looks because he thought Nene was prettier, but because she seemed like she was in her own little world.  
Great, why do I hafta fight one of these people, Ranma thought. She's easily gonna be the hardest to get closest to. Ranma had learned through his experiences that the most unassuming people were usually the hardest to deal with. Heck, Ryoga was the epitome of that theory. Completely aloof and wishy-washy, Ryoga was easily the most powerful opponent Ranma had ever come across.  
"Well, Itachi? Are you going to explain yourself?" the long-haired woman asked.  
Itachi was silent for a moment before her let out a breath, seemingly releasing the sense of nervousness within him.  
"I don't have to explain anything to any of you," Itachi said coldly, remaining composed.  
"Perhaps you don't realize what predicament you're in," this ten foot man said with a low booming voice. Ranma noticed the guy had this insanely strong aura to him but wasn't bothered by it. The guy looked to be incredibly strong which didn't worry Ranma one bit. Having fought against people like The Hulk and Ryoga, fighting physically strong people never bothered Ranma. Against them, the Perfect-Shoulder Throw could easily take them out over and over again.  
Itachi had one of his hands in his robe and Ranma noticed his hand closing tightly over something. Ranma had a good idea that Itachi was gripping the 'Tool of Banishment' tightly in his hand. From Ranma's point of view, it seemed like Itachi had every intention of using it against the members of the Akatsuki.  
"Don't tell me you're gonna just jet and leave me here to fight 'em," Ranma smirked toward Itachi, "That's messed up if you do,"  
"I have no intention of doing that," Itachi said, his voice giving off a slight sense of nervousness.  
Ranma detected the nervousness to Itachi. It made sense. Itachi was young afterall. Sure, he probably had a lot of battle experience, but it was most unlikely that he had been in such a situation like this before. Ranma, on the other hand, have been through so many situations like this that he could sleep through it. Only experience could keep a person calm in a situation like this. Ranma had to admit that Itachi was doing really well in keeping his nervousness hidden mostly.  
"It seems like you aren't worried at all at the situation you're in, my friend," a man said, "I can hear that your heart continues to remain steady and calm,"  
Ranma turned his attention toward the man. The man was dressed in a what looked like this world's traditional samurai attire. There were two sheathed swords that rested one of his hips. The swords and outfit weren't the aspect of the man that drew Ranma's attention. The man had no eyes and looked to be completely blind.  
Oh great, we have a handicapped dude, Ranma thought. That's just great. It's always the handicap dudes that end up giving me the most trouble. "It seems like something seems to have made you nervous suddenly," the blind swordsman said, smirking, "I can hear your heart starting to beat rapidly. Do I scare you?"  
"Lemme guess, you're blind, but to compensate for your lack of vision, you have super sensitive hearing," Ranma stated.  
"Vision is the weakest of a human body's senses," the man answered, "It nothing but a weakness and I find it amusing how people rely so heavily on such a weakness, believing it to be one of their strengths. I chose to have my vision removed so that I'm not hindered by it,"  
Ranma's lips became a thin line as he seemed to have just found one of the stronger opponents in the Akatsuki. For the man to realize that vision was considered a weakness of the human body, it meant he must be an incredibly experienced fighter. The fact that he had such an acute sense of hearing that he could actually hear the beating of Ranma's own heart from a distance made him a bit of a worrisome opponent. Ranma calmed down slightly. If the man's sense of hearing was his sense of 'vision' then he would be at a huge disadvantage since Ranma was capable of moving faster than sound. Ranma could easily close the distance between him and the blind swordsman before the man could even hear his approach and react accordingly.  
"Hey, you know these guys, can you tell me their weaknesses?" Ranma asked, nudging at Itachi, "Don't worry, kid, I'll help you out and fight along side you. It'll be fun,"  
Itachi said nothing.  
"You may leave," the long-haired woman said coldly to Ranma, "Our business isn't with you,"  
Ranma shook his head, "Sorry, but I can't do that. Eight on one is an unfair fight,"  
"And you think eight on two evens it up?" the ten-foot man laughed, "You're basically throwing your life away. I have no idea what your connection with Itachi is, but you should not throw your life away for such trash as he,"  
Ranma smiled, "Hey, I make a lotta mistakes in life. I'll consider my staying around to help Itachi here yet another mistake on my part so don't worry about it,"  
"I admire your audacity to so openly mock us," a man with a shaved head said. There was a bo staff attached back, held there by a harness. The bo staff looked very short, only around four feet in length, leading Ranma to believe that the staff might have some magical property that allowed it to extend. The man wore very loose clothing which seemed to hide hand-held weapons.  
"Shaved head? Bo staff?" Ranma said, "Lemme guess, you're the monk of this group, huh? A group's always gotta have a monk,"  
The bald man brushed off the comment and simply laughed.  
Ranma regarded the man, curious as to what the man's special abilities were. The man had slender arms which led Ranma to believe he was some kind of weapons master since weapons master tended to have slender arms since speed was more useful than strength when weapons were to be used.  
He looked at the bo staff.  
That bo staff will be useful if I can use it, Ranma thought. In a situation like this, I'm definitely gonna hafta use a weapon and the bo staff is my weapon of choice.  
The bald man noticed Ranma looking at his bo staff and removed it from its harness and held it in front of him. He pointed the front end of the staff toward Ranma as it suddenly extended at a high velocity, extending well over forty feet, missing Ranma's head by inches as Ranma tilted his head toward the side.  
Ranma ended up ducking as the man tried to hit Ranma in the side of the head with his extended staff, missing him as the staffed retracted back to its original length.  
"Che," Ranma muttered, realizing that that staff would be very bothersome. The staff basically made the bald man effective at long-range as well as at short-  
range.  
After a moment, Ranma smirked. It seemed like the bald man didn't fit the general mold a monk would be. It seemed like the bald man was the hot-head of the group, the aggressive one. He could use that man's aggressiveness to his advantage.  
Ranma turned his gaze toward the next person. The man was shirtless wasn't really paying much attention to him or Itachi and had a rather well-defined body that was covered with odd tattoos. Whether or not they were actual tattoos or seals imbuing his body for quick access to special Jutsu, Ranma had no idea. The man seemed like he was most likely a Jutsu master.  
Ranma's eyes winded as he sensed this odd presence to the tattooed man as he suddenly realized that those weren't tattoos. They were seals that seemed like tattoo. The runes on the man's body seemed to constantly draw in ki from his surroundings.  
The guy with the tattoos is a bit like me, Ranma thought. His body draws in ki from his surroundings. However, it seems like it's those tattoos on his body that's allowing that to happen. It seems like he isn't aware of exactly how to do it naturally and has those markings on his body doing it for him. Hm, it seems like those markings don't allow him to draw in ki all that quickly, but still, it'll be troublesome to some extent because I have no idea what he can use that ki for. I better be cautious of him.  
"You're an interesting person," Ranma smirked toward the tattooed man, "Since it's inevitable that we're all gonna fight, I'm looking forward to fighting you,"  
He wondered how good of a fighter that tattooed man was. The fact that his body drew in ki from his surroundings meant he had a distinct advantage.  
The tattooed man simply shrugged, giving off this impression like he wasn't interested in fighting Ranma. In a sense, he was somewhat aloof like that the pink haired girl that wore a similar outfit to Ranma. This worried Ranma slightly. The man seemed like he would be troublesome if he knew how to harness all that ki to his advantage.  
Ranma turned his attention away from the tattooed man.  
Last but not least was the eighth person. The man was the smallest member of the group, standing at around five feet tall. He looked to be the oldest member there, having a long gray beard that seemed to touch the ground. On his back was a large box that was roughly the size of his body. As to what was in there, Ranma surmised it was some form of explosive wards or perhaps weapons. As to what kind of weapons, Ranma had no idea. Okay, from what I gather, the tattooed man and that pink-haired girl acting aloof that wears clothes similar to me are the two main people I should worry about. Everyone else shouldn't be that hard, provided they don't have some super sneaky tricks up their sleeves. Of course, if they pull out all the stops, I'll do the same and start using ki-blasts like there's no tomorrow.  
Ranma smirked as he looked at the group, turning around to look at everyone one last time. Realizing that a battle was inevitable, he figure he might as well get the ball rolling sooner than later. "C'mon, let's cut the bullshit and fight,"

Shizune dashed among the branches. She could barely make out Sasuke's figure as he continued to run ahead of her.  
"Wait!" she called out to him, her words falling on deaf ears. Either that or he was simply ignoring her.  
She contemplated throwing a dagger and hitting him in the leg. Something like that would definitely slow down his progress. However, she decided against it. Sasuke was ignorant to what was going on. All he knew was that he hated his brother and wanted to kill him. He needed to be stopped before he became a danger to himself or anyone else.  
As she continued to chase him, she caught sight of a shadow out of the corner of her eye. She knew that it wasn't Naruto, Naruto still too hurt from his fight against Ranma before to be able to keep up. Sensing an evil aura to the shadow, she stopped her pursuit, throwing a dagger straight toward the shadow, missing it narrowly by inches. The shadow, which seemed to have been chasing after Sasuke, turned its attention toward Shizune when it sensed the projectile and was forced to break its pursuit to dodge.  
"Who goes there?" she said in a firm voice, reaching into one of her pockets and producing yet a short knife, her weapon of choice.  
The shadow emerged from the darkness of the woods and into the moonlight shining through the treetops to reveal a young-looking white haired man. "You!" Shizune instantly recognized Kabuto. She recognized him as the young man that was at Orochimaru's side when Orochimaru approached her and Tsunade asking for Tsunade's help. He had asked for her help because he had recently lost complete use of his arms after a failed attempt at destroying Hidden Leaf Village.  
"We meet again," Kabuto smirked, adjusting his glasses.  
"What are you doing here?" she asked. She couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. If Kabuto was nearby, that meant Orochimaru was nearby as well. Kabuto smirked, "That's really none of your business,"  
"I don't wish to fight you," Shizune said.  
"No can do," Kabuto smirked, "I have no intention of you interfering in our plans,"  
Sasuke was directly on his way into one of Orochimaru's ambushes and Kabuto wanted to see to it that it occur. His main task had been to reveal himself to Sasuke and actually lure him into the ambush, but since Sasuke seemed to be heading right into with without any goading, it was best to leave him be. Shizune's appearance was merely an unexpected surprise that needed to be dealt with.  
Kabuto reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small knife, ready for battle, a smirk on his lips, "Well, let's see what you've got,"  
Shizune got into a readied stance, ready for battle.  
They jumped toward each other, crossing paths in mid-flight, slashing at one another, before continuing on arcing through the sky and landing on their very own branches.  
They continued to jump and slash at one another in the air before Shizune could be seen getting visibly annoyed at being unable to defeating Kabuto. Kabuto looked like he was holding back, doing so simply to keep Shizune distracted.  
"This is getting tiresome," she said in annoyance, almost questioning her own abilities as a Jounin.  
Ranma would be able to incapacitate Kabuto in only a few seconds and she had been at it with him for several minutes and getting nowhere, fast. She had been traveling with Ranma for quite a while and it seemed like watching him train Naruto did nothing to improve her own abilities as well. One would figure she would get better through observation.  
She thought about how Naruto's own fighting style seemed to gradually change to almost emulate Ranma's own. What was funny was that Naruto's emulated fighting style was actually really effective. Heck, with a game Ranma had created, Naruto had managed to actually win against Shizune and get his hand on her dagger by simply pointing somewhere to distract her.  
Wait, maybe that might work, she thought. "Ranma, thank goodness you're here," she said, looking toward the left as if talking to him.  
Kabuto, upon hearing Ranma's name, turned his attention in the direction Shizune was looking. Kabuto had every reason to be worried about Ranma since Ranma was basically capable of utterly defeating him without even batting an eye.  
Shizune seemed to be in a state of shock when she realized that such a pathetic ruse had actually worked. Unfortunately, she had not expected it to work so effectively and took a second longer than expect to throw her dagger at Kabuto. That small pause had allowed Kabuto enough time to realize that that had been a ruse and recover in time to dodge Shizune's incoming projectile.  
Kabuto ended up dodging toward his left as the dagger narrowly missed the center of his chest, hitting him in his right shoulder. Shizune had aimed to kill with her dagger, intending to sent it right into the center of his chest and the blade into his heart, but Kabuto had managed to react in time. He only suffered a wounded shoulder in the process.  
"Che," Kabuto sneered, wincing slightly in pain as he pulled Shizune's embedded dagger from his shoulder. He was angry with himself for having fallen for such a pathetic ruse.  
Shizune still seemed in a state of surprise.  
My God, it actually worked, she thought. I can't believe it worked. Damn, too bad I took too long to attack. I didn't expect him to actually fall for it.  
She looked at Kabuto's right arm and noticed it hung limply by his side as he used his free hand to grip at his shoulder to slow the bleeding. It seemed like Shizune's dagger, while it didn't actually do enough damage to kill him, had done enough damage to render his right arm useless.  
Shizune smiled slightly. Although she felt confident that the battle had now been swayed in her favor, she knew that Kabuto was still a dangerous person, even though he now had one useless arm.  
"That was a rather sneaky ruse," Kabuto smiled, "To think that you managed to use something so simple yet so effectively, you have my admiration,"  
"I have Ranma to thank," Shizune said, giving credit where it was due. Kabuto glanced over toward the right and caught sight of two incoming daggers. He quickly hopped backwards, landing on another nearby branch as the daggers missed him and became embedded in a tree trunk.  
From out of the shadows emerged Naruto, landing on the tree where Kabuto had been before. He had been on his way to catch up to Sasuke when he had spotted Shizune and Kabuto in the middle of battle and had stopped to help out.  
"Well well well, if it isn't Naruto?" Kabuto smirked, "It seems like things are getting interesting,"  
Naruto grinned as he continued to hold Ton-Ton on his back. As if Kabuto wasn't even worth his time, Naruto turned his attention toward Shizune.  
"Do you need my help?" Naruto asked, "Or do you want me to go on ahead?"  
"Look out!" Shizune shouted.  
Kabuto, seeing that Naruto was distracted, had lunged at him, a dagger in his working hand. Since his task was to make Sasuke walk right into a trap, stopping Naruto from heading off after Sasuke was a high priority.  
Ton-Ton, still on Naruto's back, squealed into one of his ears to get his attention. Naruto quickly turned around and caught sight of Kabuto flying straight toward him.  
With his arms currently occupied carrying Ton-Ton on his back, Naruto sidestepped toward the right and then the left and then toward the right again as Kabuto slashed at him three times quickly.  
"Gee, you're slow," Naruto smirked, continuing to dodge.  
Little did Naruto realize that Kabuto was every bit as fast as he was since their last encounter. The difference was that Naruto was now vastly faster and much more skilled, used to fighting against someone of Ranma's speed.  
Kabuto could be seen getting frustrated as Naruto continuously dodged his slashing attacks at close range. To make it even more insulting to Kabuto, Naruto was carrying Ton-Ton the entire time and simply swayed to and fro, dodging each attack like it was nothing.  
Naruto lashed out Kabuto with a kick, the speed of his attack almost catching Kabuto off-guard. Kabuto ended up jumping backwards and onto a nearby branch as Naruto's attack narrowly missed him.  
"Che," Kabuto sneered.  
He glanced down toward the front of his outfit and noticed that it was cut open, that Naruto's kick seemed to be razor sharp. It made him realize that receiving a kick from Naruto would cause quite a bit of damage.  
This is not the Naruto I remember fighting, Kabuto thought. He's so much better than what I last remember. How can he have grown so much as a fighter in such a short period of time? It doesn't make sense. What kind of training has he been undergoing to have progressed so much?  
Naruto grinned from where he was perched. He was standing on one leg, the kicking leg still held high up in the air. The sight displayed incredible leg strength in holding his leg up that high and so steadily while still carrying Ton-Ton on his back.  
"C'mon," Naruto smirked, "Whatcha waiting for? I'm right here? Why dontcha attack me?"  
"Go," Shizune said.  
"Huh?" Naruto asked.  
"Go after Sasuke," Shizune said, hopping forward to land on the branch where Naruto was, "I'll take care of him. This is our fight,"  
Kabuto smirked, "Heh, that decision will be your demise,"  
"I don't think so," Shizune smirked, "You're bleeding rather badly so you're going to gradually get weaker. We are about the same level when you weren't wounded. I clearly have the advantage here, more so as time passes,"  
Kabuto laughed, "You think a wound like this matters?"  
He removed his hand and moved his supposedly useless arm around like the wound no longer hurt. Looking at the ripped fabric of his outfit, Shizune noticed that there was no longer a wound.  
"My resilience is a lot higher than you could imagine," Kabuto smirked, "I have an ability that allows me to activate all of my cells, thus creating new cells with which to replace my damaged ones. Basically, it's senseless to try and kill me with such superficial attacks,"  
Shizune simply smirked, "Is that so?"  
Kabuto suddenly coughed as blood came out of his mouth. He fell down to one knee, feeling disoriented.  
"I'm a medical ninja," Shizune said, "While I'm skilled in the arts of medicine, I'm also skilled in the arts of poison. That dagger that hit you is laced with poison. I never said that you were going to gradually get weaker from blood loss. That's because I know blood loss is not much of an issue with a wound like that. However, what I do know is that you're going to gradually get weaker as the poison continues to kick in,"  
Kabuto sneered. Poison was his weakness and it seemed like Shizune had managed to take advantage of it.  
Naruto smiled, admiring Shizune and her skill. He remembered trying to fight against Kabuto at a restaurant and Ranma intervening because he wasn't good enough to fight him. The fact that she could take on Kabuto with little trouble where he would have most likely failed was one of the reasons why she was considered a Jounin to begin with.  
Naruto looked at Shizune, "Wow, that's so cool. That's a really good idea, lacing your dagger with poison," "Thanks," Shizune smiled. While she was nothing compared to Ranma in terms of skill, she was a Jounin and very skilled in her own ways, "Go on, Naruto. Go after Sasuke. I'll finish up over here and meet up with you,"  
"Are you sure?" Naruto asked.  
Shizune nodded, "Yes,"  
"Okay, I'll see you later," Naruto said, rushing off, jumping toward a branch.  
Kabuto, although in a weakened state, managed to throw a dagger toward Naruto's retreating figure. To his surprise, Naruto twisted in mid-flight, kicking the projectile back toward Kabuto, narrowly missing him.  
"Nice try," Naruto taunted, "Throwing stuff as slow as daggers aren't gonna work against me,"  
Kabuto sneered at his failed attempt at stopping Naruto but realized there was nothing he could do about it. He turned his gaze toward Shizune as she stood on her branch, regarding him intently.  
Slowly, Kabuto got back to his feet. "Let's end this," Shizune said, getting into a battle stance, "I have friends to get back to,"  
Naruto caught up to Sasuke in no time. Oddly enough, he had completely forgotten that Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee were supposed to be close behind him. Little did Naruto know that he was more than twice as fast as what he used to be. Because he was so used to wearing that weighted vest, when it came off, he had no idea how much faster his speed had increased now that he was no longer burdened by so much weight.  
Sasuke had been standing near the edge of the forest surrounding the temple. The temple was within sight but there was a good three hundred yards of open field between where he was and the temple. Through the use of his Sharingan technique, he was able to see Itachi standing next to Ranma, the both of them surrounding by eight individuals he didn't recognize.  
Placing Ton-Ton down, Naruto snuck up behind Sasuke.  
"Ahhhh!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke's back. He learned that from Ranma and wanted to try it out, to see if he could emulate that technique effectively.  
Sasuke turned his attention toward Naruto. He wasn't surprised at all, having heard Naruto's approach from a good hundred feet away. Instead, he looked rather angry.  
"Shut up!" Sasuke said in a whispered shout, "You're so damn loud!"  
"What, are you hiding from someone or something?" Naruto asked, looking in the general direction Sasuke was looking. Unfortunately for Naruto, he was unable to see spot Ranma from such a distance nor make out the outline of the temple. He had no idea that he was only a few hundred yards away from his goal, the temple where Ranma had left for earlier.  
Sasuke said nothing, continuing to gaze across the vast open field. He could feel his blood boiling from the anticipation of killing his brother. Unfortunately, as much as he could basically taste sweet revenge within his grasp, he knew that he needed to be cautious. There was no way he could cross such a vast open field and sneak up on Itachi without being detected. He needed to bide his time and wait for Itachi to get in close enough. His plan was to wait for Itachi to finish doing whatever he was doing and wait for him to head off on his journey and kill him then.  
Naruto took the time to look back behind him and was surprised to see that Shikamaru and the others weren't behind him. When the heck did he lose them? He was just heading along.  
"That's strange," Naruto scratched at the back of his head.  
"What's strange?" Sasuke said impatiently.  
"Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee were right behind me," Naruto said, "I ended up having to stop to help out Shizune with something so they should've caught up or actually've passed me. I don't see 'em around,"  
"What? They're here?" Sasuke asked, "What are they doing here?"  
Naruto shrugged, "I dunno. They said they were looking for you,"  
Sasuke said nothing, his lips a thin line. He knew full well why they were there. It seemed like the Hokage had somehow found out about his defection and had sent out a team to take him down. As to how she could have found out, Sasuke had no idea.  
"Sakura," Sasuke said, suddenly becoming angry, "It must've been her,"  
"Sakura? What about her?" Naruto asked curiously.  
"Forget about it," Sasuke said, "How far behind are Shikamaru and the others?"  
Naruto shrugged, "I dunno. They were right behind me. I should've checked to see if I had lost them by accident,"  
Sasuke said nothing. He gazed around, wondering where Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee were. If they were here to take him down under the Hokage's orders, they would have most likely have hidden themselves as soon as they found him. They simply hid themselves to lead Naruto to believe he had accidentally lost them. They must be nearby and observing him right now from a hidden location.  
"Hey, that's Ranma down there," Naruto's eyes widened as he managed to make out the colors of Ranma's outfit. Before Sasuke had a chance to stop Naruto, Naruto picked up Ton-Ton and leapt through the air, landing on the ground down below, sprinting off in the direction of the temple.  
"Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!" Sasuke said, realizing things were going to get even more complicated. As if to make matters even worse, a dagger shot out from the dagger, missing Sasuke by inches. He quickly turned his attention in the direction the dagger had come from.  
From out of the darkness emerged individuals that caught him completely by surprise. He had been expecting it to be Shikamaru and his team. However, he found himself staring at a very large man with a Mohawk, a young-looking girl, a man with six arms, and a guy that seemed to be have feminine features that made him seem a bit like a cross-dresser. It didn't take him more than a second to recognized them as none other than four members of Orochimaru's team.  
"Well well well, we meet again," the man with the six arms smirked, "Let's make a long story short. If you don't come with us, we will force you to come with us,"  
Sasuke's lips became a thin line, deep in thought. Things have suddenly gotten much more complicated.

new stuff 5/8

"Okay, before we fight, I have a quick question," Ranma said, "None of you girls are part of some special group or hafta follow some kinda Amazon law that basically obligates you to marry the man that defeats you, right?" The three girls looked at one another. The aloof girl simply yawned, disinterested. "And what makes you asked that?" the long-haired blond girl asked.  
"Well, when I defeat you girls, I don't want you following me around like I'm the man you've been searching for to settle down with or something like that," Ranma said, "I've been through enough of those situations that I don't care to be in such a predicament anymore,"  
Two of the three girls laughed.  
"And what makes you think you'll beat us?" the short haired girl asked, a sense of excitement in her face at the thought of fighting a strong opponent, "Individually, we should not be underestimated,"  
"I never said 'beat' you," Ranma said, "I said defeat you. I have no intention of beating you or such. Defeating and beating are different words,"  
"Oh?" the short haired girl asked, amused, "Then what do you mean?"  
"Nothing," Ranma said, "I have no intention of fighting you girls,"  
"And why not?" the short haired girl asked.  
"Because, you're girls," Ranma said in earnest, "I don't fight girls because, well, you're girls. Guys don't fight girls,"  
The two girls looked rather surprised at the chauvinistic comment. When they realized that Ranma had basically insulted their gender, they became visibly angry. The aloof girl didn't seem to be paying much attention to have heard the comment. After a moment, as if not interested in anything, she turned around and started walking away.  
"Where are you going?" the bald man with the bo staff asked her.  
She shrugged, "I'm leaving. This isn't worth my time. I'm sure all of you can take care of just two individuals,"  
Ranma said nothing as she watched the girl walking away from the group and noticing that none of the members seemed to bother asking her to stay. That led Ranma to believe that aloof girl seemed to be either the leader of the Akatsuki or one of the most powerful members there. What is that girl's ability anyway, Ranma thought. There's gotta be something special to that girl. It's as if she's actively passive because she finds the situation boring, not because she simply doesn't wanna deal with conflict.  
"Che," the bald man sneered, "It's not like we needed her anyway,"  
"She has the right idea," Ranma said, "It's better that we not fight. I don't want to fight,"  
"Then walk away," blind man said in a soft voice, "Our business is with Itachi, not you. You still have the chance of walking away from here alive, provided we never ever see you again after tonight,"  
"Forget it," the short haired girl said, cracking her knuckles, "After a comment like that, there's no way I'd let him go,"  
Ranma sighed, "I guess we're gonna hafta fight, huh?"  
He observed the girl for a moment and noticed that she seemed to be twitching with excitement, as if she was very anxious to start fighting. He also noticed that Itachi seemed a bit on edge. "Let's see what you're made of," the short haired girl stepped forward, slowly approaching Ranma and Itachi, her attention fully on Ranma.  
Ranma said, "What, you're gonna fight against me one-on-one?"  
"For something like this, yes," the girl answered, "What, you have a problem with it?"  
Ranma said, "Kinda,"  
"Well that's too bad," the girl said.  
"You better watch it," Itachi gave Ranma a word of caution, "She excels at Taijitsu,"  
Ranma smirked, "Thanks. Wow, I didn't know you were gonna help me out,"  
Itachi snorted in annoyance, "Well, it seems like, given our predicament, we have to become allies. As to how much that will do us, that has yet to be determined,"  
"I guess you have a point," Ranma said, smiling.  
Itachi regarded Ranma for a moment, noticing the idiotic grin on his face. From Itachi's point of view, it seemed like Ranma was actually excited about what was going on, like he loved being in such overwhelming situations. But then again, perhaps he was too stupid to realize just how strong each individual Akatsuki member was. Afterall, Itachi, while one of the stronger members, was easily dwarfed in power compared to some of the other members, especially the aloof girl that thankfully walked away.  
Ranma turned toward the girl, "All right, since it seems like you really wanna fight me, let's fight,"  
The short haired girl charged toward Ranma, completely ignoring the fact that Itachi was with him. But then again, perhaps she found him harmless compared to her.  
The ground below the girl's feet could be seen folding upward from the force of her taking off in a sprint as she covered the distance between her and Ranma in a blink of an eye. She moved with such blinding speed that both Ranma and Itachi momentarily lost sight of her. Ranma's eyes widened when he saw her suddenly appear in front of him, her arm extended and clenched into a fist.  
"Oh shit!" was all Ranma could say in surprise before he was punched in the face with wicked force. The girl's speed caught Ranma by complete surprise. He took the punch full force in the face as he was sent flying backward, his head snapped back.  
Ranma ended up flying bodily through the air, only to be driven down into the ground with a downward punch as the girl actually ran forward and punched Ranma a second time while he was in mid-flight.  
Ranma became embedded in the ground from the force of the impact. There was this look of utter surprise on his face.  
"Ow," Ranma said. His head hurt like hell. For a brief moment, Ranma had believed he had actually be struck by Ryoga. Ryoga's punches were so devastatingly powerful that it had the ability to completely stun Ranma for a few seconds. Of course, that usually provided Ryoga the ample time to REALLY hit Ranma which usually sent him flying to far away to be hit yet another time.  
Luckily for Ranma, the girl's punch felt like the punch Ryoga would use to stun him long enough for a follow-up punch. It hurt like hell and was even disorientating but not enough to knock him out. Ranma rubbed his head as he sat upright and caught sight of the girl walking away from where he lay, seemingly victorious. Her shoulders seemed a bit slumped as if she was disappointed with how quickly her opponent had been defeated.  
"Damn, that punch hurt," Ranma rubbed his chin, getting to his feet.  
The short haired girl turned our, shocked. It was obvious that she had not expected Ranma to live through such an attack, let alone be conscious and still capable of getting to his feet.  
Itachi even looked surprised for even he knew that surviving such a brutal attack was inhumanly possible. Aware of the short haired girl's abilities, he had actually expected Ranma to have been killed in the attack. Sure, he was well aware of how strong Ranma was, having dealt with him on a few occasions, but he had never believed he was that tough.  
"You're alive," the short haired girl was obviously surprised.  
Ranma wobbled a bit on his feet. He touched a hand to his nose and noticed that he was bleeding. He felt his lips and also noticed that they were bleeding as well.  
The girl seemed to compose herself, "I'm impress, no one has ever survived such an attack,"  
"I'm impressed as well," Ranma spit some blood from his mouth, "You have really strong punches for a girl," Even Akane with that mallet of hers seemed paled in comparison and that said a lot.  
"What did you say?" the girl sneered, seemingly offended.  
Shaking the cobwebs from his head, Ranma said, "All right, it seems like you're a lot better than I initially thought,"  
"Perhaps you shouldn't take me lightly then," the girl smirked, "Perhaps next time, you'll try and put up a fight,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "Man, it seems like you want to fight,"  
"Yes, I do," the girl said.  
Little did Ranma know that the short haired girl felt most alive in the heat of battle. She cared about nothing but fighting strong opponents. She sensed a powerful aura to Ranma and believed him to be a strong opponent. The fact that he actually survived two of her strongest attacks meant he was doubly powerful, the kind of opponent she have always wanted to face.  
"Sorry, but I don't fight girls," Ranma said as he dusted the dirt off his clothes, "However, I must say, you are indeed really good,"  
"As are you," the girl stated truthfully, "What is your name?"  
"Isn't it a custom to tell me your name first?" Ranma asked.  
"Yes," the girl said, "But since you're going to die anyway, it's useless for you to know my name,"  
Ranma said, "Okay, if you say so. My name's Ranma Saotome,"  
"I've never heard of you before," the girl stated.  
"I doubt you would," Ranma said, "I'm new around here," The bald man with the bo staff stepped forward, "Enough of this chit chat. Let's just kill the both of them and be on our way. I have things to do,"  
"No!" the girl snapped at him, "This guy's mine. I've been looking forward to fighting someone like him all my life,"  
Ranma smirked as he realized the girl seemed to be some kind of battle junkie. Strangely enough, she reminded him of himself when he was young. There was something he always liked about fighting strong opponents. Of course, that was a long time ago and he no longer craved battles like back then.  
He looked at the girl as she could be seen turning her attention toward him and getting back into a battle stance. It made him realize that she was really serious. He smirked, impressed. Her battle stance was very similar to his own and provided virtually no openings. There was a strong defensive and offensive posture to it.  
"Look, can't you just drop it?" Ranma asked, "I'm not interested in fighting,"  
"It's useless," Itachi said as Ranma walk up and stopped right next to him, "She lives for the fight. I know,"  
"You fought her?" Ranma asked.  
Itachi nodded. He remembered the fight fairly well. She had fought him to test his abilities, defeating him quite easily. Of course, this was a long time ago, when he was no where near as battle experienced as he was now. If he fought her now, he wondered if he would be able to beat her. This was because, even though he was significantly more powerful than he used to be, she had gotten more powerful as well. If he though about it, he might have an edge. The fact that he know had the ability to shoot ki-blasts gave him a distinct advantage against someone like her, a hand-to-hand specialist.  
"Who won?" Ranma smirked.  
"That's none of your concern," Itachi replied, "All you need to know is that she should not be taken lightly,"  
Shikamaru and his team observed what was transpiring between Sasuke and those four new arrivals. They were hiding behind some branches a short distance away, wondering who those four people were. They didn't recognize them and had no idea what their connection with Sasuke was.  
"They look strong," Lee commented, "It looks like we will have our work cut out for us,"  
"They don't know that we're here," Neji said, "We need to use the element of surprise to our advantage. Our mission is to assassinate Sasuke. Who those four people are are of no concern to us,"  
"Hold up," Shikamaru said.  
Lee and Neji both looked at Shikamaru. Shikamaru could be seen deep in thought, as if trying to formulate some sort of plan. Shikamaru recognized those four individuals from the attack on Hidden Leaf Village. Lee and Neji weren't there at the stadium when they showed up. Shikamaru was very well aware that they were very strong, able to take out the Anbu members fairly easily.  
"We're going to have our work cut out for us," Shikamaru stated, "They're strong,"  
"How strong?" Neji asked, "And how do you know?"  
"Strong enough to be of help to Orochimaru in killing the Hokage," Shikamaru stated, "I saw them helping Orochimaru out when Hidden Leaf Village was being attacked,"  
Neither Lee nor Neji had been there to observe the fight between Orochimaru and the Hokage and the four's contribution to creating the barrier that allowed the two of them to fight one-on-one without outside interruptions.  
The three of them caught sight of a dagger sailing right by them, missing Neji by inches had he not sensed it and dodged toward the side to avoid it, becoming embedded in the tree trunk of the branch upon where they hid.  
"They noticed us," Neji said, glancing through the bushes toward the four individuals. The four of them seemed to have their attention on the three new arrivals.  
Sasuke, realizing that he couldn't make run for it away from them and out to the open field or risk Itachi noticing him, decided he needed to seize the opportunity while it presented himself. He leapt forward and kicked at his nearest opponent, the man with six-arms, hoping to land a jump kick hard enough to send him flying into the other teammates so he could use that opportunity to run away, to have them give chase and deeply into the forest, hoping he would be able to lose them and eventually go back to awaiting for an opportunity to kill Itachi.  
Sasuke found himself surprised when the man with the six arms caught his leading leg without turning around, catching him in mid-flight. He let out a yelp of surprised as his opponent swung him through the air and slammed him against the trunk of the tree they were all perched upon, falling down to the branch, coughing as pain racked his body.  
"Don't kill the twerp," the female of the group said.  
"I know," the six-armed man spat, "Our orders are to bring him in alive. Orochimaru-sama never said anything about banging him up a bit in the process,"  
"What do you think about our unwelcomed visitor?" the cross-dresser smirked, gesturing toward Shikamaru and his two teammates, "Let's play with him for a little while before we get back,"  
"Fag," the girl said, "From the way you said it, it seems like playing with little boys,"  
The cross-dresser simply laughed at the comment.  
"Hey, we know you're there," the large man of the group said in Shikamaru's group's general direction.  
"Stand up," Shikamaru said to Neji a whispered tone, "Don't let them know of our numbers. They think it's only one person,"  
Shikamaru had overheard them say 'unwelcomed visitor', using the word 'visitor' as in singular form.  
"Just me?" Neji was surprised to hear that, wondering if Shikamaru knew what he was doing.  
"Just do it," Shikamaru said, "I have a plan,"

new stuff 5/19

Ranma found himself getting seriously annoyed as he continuously dodged the short haired girl's attacks.  
"This grows tiresome," Ranma said as he continued to dodge.  
"Then fight back," the girl retorted coldly. It seemed like she was growing annoyed as well because Ranma didn't seem to be fighting back like she wanted him to. She wanted to enjoy the exhilaration she always felt when fighting a strong opponent and found herself seriously irritated that Ranma was not giving her such an experience.  
"I don't wanna fight," Ranma said, still dodging.  
"Well that's too bad," the girl replied.  
"There's absolutely no possible way we can get outta this situation without fighting, huh?" Ranma asked.  
"That's right," she replied.  
Ranma sighed. He stopped dodging and turned his back toward her, walking away from her. The girl found herself staring at Ranma's back, one of her arms still extended in front of her in mid-punch. Ranma turning around and just walking away had caught her a bit off guard.  
Taking a deep breath, Ranma turned toward the girl.  
"Okay, I'll fight you," Ranma said, tilting his head back and forth as if to loosen up.  
The girl smile, eager to see just how strong an opponent Ranma was.  
Ranma got into a battle stance, "Let's fight. I hope you don't harbor any ill will toward me for what I'm about to do,"  
"Oh?" the girl asked, "And what might that be?"  
Ranma seemed to disappear as he dashed forward toward the short haired girl. The girl yelped in surprised as she suddenly felt herself unable to breath as Ranma seemed to suddenly appear in front of her, grabbing her by her neck and lifting her off her feet.  
"Sorry about this," Ranma said in a sad voice.  
With that said, Ranma slammed the short haired girl into the ground on her back with devastating force, a small crater being formed beneath his feet in the process. "Oof," the girl let out a yelp of pain as the wind was knocked out of her completely, her body arching at the waist for a moment before becoming limp and falling down to the ground unmoving.  
Ranma looked down at the girl, angry at himself for what he had done. However, he told himself that that had to be done since that was the only way to end the fight. With an opponent like that, that was the only thing he could have done.  
"Sorry about that," Ranma said toward the girl, "I really didn't mean to do that, really," Ranma turned around to face Itachi and the rest of the group but was stopped when he felt something grip over one of his ankles.  
As Ranma turned around, he found himself caught off balance as he suddenly found himself being hoisted up into the air by his one leg and suspended upside down.  
"What the?" Ranma said in surprise. He looked toward his ankle and found that there was a hand gripping it. To his surprise, the hand was attached to the short haired girl's arm. This surprised him because the girl looked perfectly fine, as if that attack Ranma had pulled off on her had had no effect.  
As he was suspended in the air, Ranma noticed a glowing aura surrounding the girl. The aura seemed very similar to Ryoga's aura when ever he got really angry at Ranma and wanted to get serious.  
"Heh, it looks like she's serious now," the ten foot tall man said with a smirk.  
Itachi's eyes widened in surprise as he realized what was going on. He noticed the aura surrounding the girl. It brought back some rather humbling memories from his early days when he first joined the Akatsuki. She had used that particular ability to defeat him when they sparred against one another.  
"You are one amusing fellow," the girl sneered coldly, "You're the first in a long time to have made me have to get serious,"  
As the girl held Ranma upside down with one leg, she brought a foot up and stomped downward toward his neck area. Ranma tried his best to shield his face with his forearms but found it fruitless as the force behind the girl's stomp was too much for him to block.  
The girl's stomp crushed right through Ranma's nearly impenetrable guard and ended up hitting him square in his chin. The force of the stomp sent Ranma right down into the ground, becoming embedded into it up to his mid-chest area.  
As if to make sure Ranma knew she wasn't playing around, she stomped on him a second time, this time on his chest, sending him farther downward into the ground, becoming embedded under it all the way to his waist.  
When the dust cleared, the girl could be seen standing over the partially exposed Ranma, a smirk on her face.  
"Is that all you've got?" she taunted Ranma.  
She watched as Ranma slowly climbed his way out of the ground, hopping back when one of his hands lashed out to grab at one of her ankles.  
"Okay, now I'm fucking pissed," Ranma said, getting to his feet. His mouth was bloody. He wiped the blood from his mouth against his forearm as he looked at the girl as she stood a cautious distance away from him.  
Ranma knew the girl was a very experienced fighter. Even though she seemed to live for the fight, the fact that she remain a cautious distance away meant she was a very patient fighter as well.  
Itachi walked over to stand by Ranma's side. He figured he should give Ranma some pointers.  
"It seems like she's serious now," Itachi stated.  
"I noticed," Ranma said coldly, his gaze still on the girl.  
"You better watch out," Itachi said, "When she's serious, she resorts to unlocking the Heavenly Gates,"  
"Ah, so that's how she gets the sudden boost of power," Ranma smirked, "I should've known,"  
The Heavenly Gates were limitations God inflicted on a human body to prevent it from becoming to strong and basically wrecking havoc to a world. He remembered talking about that to Naruto about that. At this point in time, now that Ranma was seriously pissed off, he didn't seem one bit worried about that girl's special ability.  
"Okay," Ranma said to the girl, rubbing at his sore neck muscles, "I'm seriously pissed off now. I'm giving you one last warning. If you don't walk away, you're gonna realize you've bitten off a lot more than you can possibly chew. You've got a few good shots in on me because I've underestimated you. I'm not gonna make that mistake again,"  
The short haired girl smiled happily, "Good,"  
She charged toward Ranma again and punched at his head.  
Her eyes widened in surprise as Ranma reached out and grabbed her incoming hand. She tried to pull her arm back before he had a chance to seize it but was unable to. With his opponent's arm extended forward and held in one of his hands, Ranma executed an uppercut right into the girl's armpit long before she had a chance to even realize one of her arms had been seized. She yelped out in pain as a massive bolt of pain shot through her body as Ranma's punch struck a vulnerable and sensitive area of her body.  
In one fluid motion, Ranma made his way to the girl's exposed back as she instinctively clutched at her armpit area with her free arm. Before she realized what was going on, Ranma reached an arm up and around her face from behind, putting her head in a headlock from behind in a hold know as the Dragon Sleeper. The hold had it where her neck was cranked backwards as she found herself looking up toward the sky, her body arched backwards.  
"Erk!" she said, realizing the predicament she was in as she tried to use free herself from Ranma's hold. Despite her boost of strength through the use of her Heavenly Gates, Ranma's own strength seemed to dwarf it.  
"Have you any idea how lucky you are?" Ranma said in a cold voice, "I could've ended your life before you even realized what had happened. The fact that I don't believe in killing means I'll let you walk away from here with your life still intact,"  
The girl continued to struggle to free herself, much to no avail.  
"Ow!" the girl heard Ranma say as she suddenly found herself free as Ranma seemed to release her.  
She staggered forward and turned around to face Ranma and found herself looking at Ranma's back as his attention seemed to be turned elsewhere. It only took her a moment to realize that one of her Akatsuki teammates and come to her rescue and attacked Ranma from behind when his attention on her.  
It seemed like Ranma had been struck from behind by the bald man's bo staff when he had the short haired girl in a Dragon Sleeper hold. That had caused him to lose his hold over her.  
"He's mine!" the girl shouted toward her fellow teammate, "I don't want you interfering!"  
Her teammate didn't seem to hear him as he vigorously attacked at Ranma with his bo staff, swiping at his head as Ranma ducked and dodged each attack. Ranma seemed to have no trouble dealing with him as he grabbed an incoming bo swipe.  
"Let's see how good you are without your bo staff," Ranma smirked.  
Ranma yanked the bo staff from the bald man's hands, intending to use the bo staff himself and really show the man how a bo staff should be used. However, Ranma found himself surprised when the bo staff seemed to become unbelievably heavy, so heavy that he could not hold it and it fell to the ground in a loud thud.  
"What the?" Ranma said, looking down at the staff. It didn't make sense how something like the could weight so much. If the bo staff was so heavy that even Ranma couldn't hold it, that meant that bald man was probably stronger than even Ryoga since only Ryoga could hold and wield objects that even Ranma could not lift.  
The bald man smile as he extended a hand forward as the bo staff seemed to magically levitate and suddenly shoot through to air and end up in the man's extended hand.  
"Heh, you must be really na ve to think you can wield my bo staff," the man laughed, "I guess you've never heard of the Staff of Suki, huh? It's an ancient weapon that can only be wielded by one person, the person it considers its master,"  
Ranma snorted in annoyance. He didn't anticipate that the bo staff would possess some special property like that. He had been so looking forward to wielding that bo staff.  
"For get about him," the short haired girl said, "Your opponent is me,"  
Ranma turned his attention toward the girl. He regarded her for a moment in annoyance, "Do you have some kinda chemical imbalance or something? Don't you realize I had your life in my hands but chose to spare it?"  
"Hmph," the girl sneered, refusing to acknowledge just how closely Ranma had come to killing her with a simple twist of her neck. She couldn't help but feel a sense of nervousness. Never in her life had she come across an opponent that could have so easily ended her life, just like that. It was as if he could have killed her without breaking a sweat and just using his bare hands. "Just walk away," Ranma said to her, "I don't wanna fight, but just because I would rather not fight, that doesn't mean I dunno how to fight," "Enough chit chatting. Let's just get this over with!" the man with to bo staff sneered as he took a swing at Ranma's head from a distance, the bo staff mysteriously extending in mid-swing.  
Ranma barely moved as he dodged the swing. "If you really think you're gonna hit me with linear attacks like that, you've got another think coming," Ranma smirked.  
"And what makes you think my attacks are linear?" the man smirked.

new stuff 6/18

"Because I know how to use a bo staff as well," Ranma said, "And I also know its weakness. Staff attacks are linear and easily avoidable,"  
"Heh, that's what you think," the man grinned.  
The man jabbed his staff toward the air in front of him where the end seemed to disappear into thin air. Ranma felt a sharp pain shoot up his back as he was suddenly struck from behind. He staggered forward and quickly turned around to see what had hit him and caught a glimpse of the end of the staff as it seemed to disappear into thin air again.  
"Che," Ranma muttered as he realized his new opponent seemed to have some kinda of magical bo staff that seemed to be able to warp. That would be definitely bothersome, having to deal with an opponent that can basically strike his own weapon in the air without having to actually worry about actually aiming.  
"So, you think my attacks are linear?" the bald man smirked.  
Ranma rubbed at the small of his back. It was a bit sore but nothing all that bothersome, "That's a mighty nice weapon you got there. I didn't know it could do something wicked like that,"  
The bald man smirked, "That's just one of its many special properties. I'm looking forward to showing you some of them,"  
"Okay, that's it. I'm getting sick of this," Ranma said to the group as a whole, now really annoyed, "The next person who tries to attack me will be in for a world of hurt. I'm no killer but don't think I won't hesitate to kill or seriously maim someone if you guys continue to push me,"  
The short haired girl smirked, "Now we're getting somewhere. It's about time you started getting serious,"  
Ranma sighed, "Okay, lemme get this straight. You still want to fight me, right?"  
"Of course," the girl said.  
"You still intend to fight me, despite the fact that I could've killed you but actually spared your life?" Ranma asked.  
The short haired girl said, "I guess you don't know me that well, huh?  
The only thing I care about in life is fighting. The only time I ever feel alive is in the heat of battle against a strong opponent,"  
Itachi leaned over and whispered to Ranma, "What she says is true. She lives for the fight,"  
"I figured," Ranma sighed.  
After a moment, he shrugged, "Okay, fine. Whatever. If you don't care about your life, I guess I shouldn't care about it either,"  
"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked.  
"I'm gonna hurt you," Ranma said in a serious voice, "I'm gonna seriously hurt you the next time you attack me,"  
"I wouldn't want it any other way!" the short haired girl cheered as she dashed toward Ranma, arm cocked back.  
Even though the girl moved with blinding speed, Ranma was ready for her. Ranma simply reached out and grabbed the girl's extended arm by her forearm, stopping her incoming attack dead in its tracks.  
The girl's eyes widened in surprise at how easily Ranma stopped her attack. She had put all her power behind that punch, intent on using her brute strength and speed to finish Ranma off quickly and brutally.  
Using his free arm, Ranma slammed his forearm right into the elbow of the girl's seized arm, dislocating her arm at the elbow. The girl screamed out in pain as her arm bent backwards at the elbow at a ninety degrees angle.  
Ranma then executed a roundhouse toward front of the girl's knees. The girl's legs could be seen bending forward at the knees as Ranma's attack seemed to shatter both of the girl's knees from the intense impact. Before gravity took its course and the girl fell to the ground, Ranma sent a devastating punch right into the girl's ribs, breaking several ribs in the process and sending the broken bones right into the hapless opponent's lungs.  
The girl fell to the ground unconscious.  
Itachi looked surprised on his face at what he had witnessed. He never anticipated that Ranma could be so brutal. Someone that could be that mercilessly brutally seemed like a perfect Akatsuki organization member. Ranma looked down at the broken body of the short haired girl as she could be seen struggling to breathe as her punctured lungs were slowly filling up with blood. There was a glassy look in her eyes as she stared straight up in the sky, as if awaiting for death to bestow her.  
"Dontcha think you're acting a bit on the melodramatic side?" Ranma asked the girl, smirking.  
Itachi looked down at the girl, curious as to what Ranma meant by that. After a moment, he caught out on Ranma's comment. It annoyed him a bit that he didn't notice it before Ranma.  
"A-a replicant?" Itachi said in surprise.  
The girl stopped pretending to be hurt as she suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When the cloud disappeared, the girl was no longer there. Ranma turned around to face the girl as she could be seen approaching him from behind, Itachi following suit and turning around as well a second later.  
The girl looked extremely annoyed.  
"It seems like you were forced to reveal one of your special abilities, huh?" Ranma asked in a cold voice, "I guess you're unlike that Lee kid I met who only knows how to use hand-to-hand techniques, Taijitsu.. I guess you're capable of using both Taijitsu and Jujitsu,"  
The girl tried to compose herself but it was clear she was visibly shaken from the experience.  
"I guess you're not so 'blood-thirsty' for a fight since you're not the one actually fighting," Ranma taunted, "You just send out clones to do the fighting for you while you just hide yourself and observe,"  
"Very observant," the girl said after a moment, "How did you figure something like that out?"  
"When I grabbed you and slammed you against the ground that first time around," Ranma said, "When I was holding you by your neck, I realized the person I was holding wasn't even real. Therefore, I was holding a clone or some kinda puppet. And as you can tell, I have no problem hurting a puppet or clone or such. I must say, you must be really good at what you do to have your clones capable tapping into so much power,"  
The girl sneered for a moment before she started laughing.  
"Well, since it seems like you know of my main ability, I might as well use it to its fullest capability," the girl said, proceeding to do several hand seals in the process, "You've only faced against one of my clones. Let's see how you'll do against a dozen, each equal in strength-"  
"I don't think so," came a cold voice from behind her.  
The girl winced in pain as she felt something sharp enter her from her back. She looked down at the center of her chest and saw the tip of a dagger protruding from it, blood spewing from the open wound. She turned her gaze behind her and caught sight of Itachi, a cold grin on his face as he held both hands firmly on the dagger that pierced her body from behind.  
"Y-you!" she said in contempt, eyes wide open.  
Itachi smirked, feeling a great sense of satisfaction, "Yes, me,"  
He pulled the dagger out as the girl staggered forward, clutching at her chest, trying to keep her lifeblood from flowing out of her.  
"What the fuck didja go and do that for?" Ranma shouted. He rushed forward and grabbed the girl by her shoulders and she fell forward so she wouldn't slam down on the ground.  
"I saw the opportunity to kill her and took it," Itachi said, grinning all the while as he calmly wiped the blade of his dagger with a cloth before putting it back into the folds of his clothes, "You must be na ve to think I'd just stand around and do nothing. I have no intention of having to deal with her and her clones,"  
Ranma crouched down on the ground and gently placed the girl on her back. As he held her, he knew that he held the real person. The girl's face looked unlike the face he was used to seeing. He was used to seeing the face of a battle-  
loving fighter, even if it was the face of a clone. The girl in his arms looked almost frail and weak, nothing like the clone he was used to seeing. The girl coughed as blood poured from her mouth and wounds. "Don't worry, you'll be all right," Ranma said in a reassuring voice. He placed his hand by the open wounds on the girl's back and chest to stop the bleeding.  
She looked up at Ranma as he crouched by her, "Why? Why are you helping me?"  
"Because I'm not some kinda monster," Ranma said in a sad voice, "You need help and I'm gonna try and help you, even if you are supposed to be my enemy,"  
The girl looked at Ranma, a look of sadness in her eyes as her life passed before her eyes.  
"I-I don't need your help," she said weakly, trying to be strong as she tried to push Ranma's hands away. She looked to be on the verge of tears, showing emotions none of the Akatsuki members had ever seen, "I know I'm gonna die. It's useless to try and save me,"  
"Don't be stubborn," Ranma lied, "You'll be fine. Just conserve your energy,"  
The girl didn't hear what Ranma have to say for she had already died.  
Ranma sighed as he held the girl's lifeless body in his arms. After a moment, he gently placed her down on the ground, closing her eyes with two fingertips.  
"Damn, man, why'd you hafta go and do something like that?" Ranma got up and shouted at Itachi.  
"I already told you before," Itachi answered coldly, "I have no intention of repeating myself,"  
Ranma said, "You're a heartless murderer, y'know that?"  
"Don't make me laugh," Itachi laughed at that comment, "I am what I am because of her and the organization,"  
Ranma said, "Oh," He had completely forgotten about that. The Akatsuki Organization had killed Itachi's real parents. The girl had been one of the members so it was only natural that Itachi wanted to kill her to avenge his parents' deaths. It made him realize that Itachi wanted to kill everyone else as well and would not hesitate to do so should the opportunity arise once again.  
"You've gotten a lot stronger since we've last seen you, Itachi," the man with the bo staff said, walking forward, his weapon resting over his shoulders, "I guess it's understandable since you have this preposterous notion that you can become strong enough to kill all of us. Okay, you may have been able to kill one of us, but do you honestly think you can single-handedly take down all of us? If we wanted to, you and your friend'll be dead before you know it,"  
Itachi narrowed his eyes at the bald man, "Why don't you come here and try?"  
"You're completely outmatched, Itachi," the blind swordsman said, "You are strong indeed and may be able to take down one or perhaps even two of us if we all fought one-on-one, but against all of us, you're against impossible odds. Give up now and we'll give you a quick and painless death for your betrayal,"  
Ranma raised a hand, "Um, what about me? What do you guys plan on doing with me?"  
"You're strong," the blond woman said, "Perhaps you might want to join us. There's going to be at least two open positions in our organization once we're done dealing with Itachi here,"  
"Him? On our group?" the bald man shouted, "I don't think so! I'm totally against it!"  
"We'll have a vote," the man with the tattoos said.  
Ranma took a look at the dead short haired girl by his feet, feeling sad for her. It seemed like none of her brethren seemed to even care one bit about her death. The seemed totally unaffected by it.  
"I don't think so," Ranma said, jerking a thumb toward the dead girl, "I have no intention of being a part of a group that can so readily brush off the death of one of their own like it was nothing. To me, you're nothing more than a buncha assholes and I want nothing to do with you,"  
"Then you'll die with Itachi right here, tonight," the bald man smirked, bringing his weapon off his shoulders and into a ready position.  
Itachi could be seen reaching into the folds of his clothes, as if reaching for his weapons, ready to the battle of his life. The young man looked very composed despite the fact that he was most likely going to die tonight.  
"Here," Itachi said, producing the nanban mirror Ranma sought, handing it to him, "This was what you're looking for, right?"  
Ranma looked down at the mirror in his hands. To his surprise, it really was the nanban mirror, "Y-yes, it is. You're giving it to me?"  
"Yes," Itachi said, "Even though I know how to use it, it's no use to me anyway. You might as well have it,"  
Ranma was silent for a moment, "Why do you say that?"  
"This mirror needs human tears to work. Well, I've cried out all my tears long ago," Itachi said, "Something like this is useless to me,"  
"Um, thanks," Ranma said gratefully, but also surprised.  
"It's best you get away from here as far as possible," Itachi said in a soft voice so only Ranma could hear, "I intend to extinguish my life using one of those Mouko Takabisha projectiles of yours,"  
"Y-you're going to use the Seppukku Mouko Takabisha?" Ranma gasped, wondering when or how Itachi learned to do that.  
"Seppukku, huh?" Itachi smirked, "That sounds like a fitting name for such a technique,"  
Itachi never learned that particular technique. However, knowing that the ki-  
blast had destructive capabilities, he assumed that he could conjure such a blast powerful enough to kill everyone within a large proximity to him. Unfortunately, he would be caught up in the blast as well and killed in the process.  
"What about your sense of revenge?" Ranma asked, "You're not going to get your revenge this way. If you're hell-bent on killing every Akatsuki member, one will still live since one of them walked away from here a while back, before my fight with that short haired girl started,"  
Itachi's lips became a thin line as he realized that Ranma was right. Itachi had no problems forfeiting his life so long as he reached his dream of exacting revenge and destroying the entire Akatsuki Organization, but his goals will be unfulfilled simply because one of the members will remain alive, she having walked away out of boredom not too long ago. "Che," Itachi said, realizing that killing himself and everyone along with him was no longer and option.

new stuff 6/21

Not that far away from where the temple, Naruto, while still carrying Ton-Ton on his back, was making his way toward where Ranma was when he caught sight of a lone figure out in the middle of the vast field.  
Unaware of who the woman was and that she was one of the Akatsuki members, the one that walked off from the group, he figured he would leave well enough alone and just run right by her. He gave the woman a quick glance. The woman had had pink hair and wore attire very similar to Ranma's own. While there was no noticeable outward characteristics to the woman that stuck out, there was this aura to Naruto that he could sense. It was a strong aura of power similar to Ranma's own. It made him wonder if the woman could be some kinda of this-world's-version of Ranma, a female version.  
The woman, while not really caring much about what happened around her so long as it didn't involve her, happened to glance toward Naruto as he was running by. The sight of a young spiky-haired boy carrying a pig on his back was something one didn't see all that often.  
When the woman regarded Naruto as he was running by her, her eyes widened in recognition.  
"Naruto!" she said in a slightly surprised voice.  
Naruto, hearing the woman call him out by name, came to a sliding halt when he realized that the woman seemed to somehow know him. He turned around and faced the woman. Their eyes made contact as Naruto regarded the woman a second time, wondering how she knew his name.  
There was this ever-present sense of power to her. Her outward appearance and demeanor seemed rather aloof which seemed to belie who she really was. While something like that should make someone like Naruto very cautious, he was too curious as to who the woman was than to be weary.  
"Do I know you?" Naruto asked curiously after a moment of deep contemplation. For the life of him, he could not remember ever having met the woman before.  
The woman shook her, "No, you don't,"  
"Then how do you know my name?" Naruto asked, putting Ton-Ton down on the ground, figuring he could afford to stop and talk to this woman for a short while.  
"I know of you," she answered, "All the members of my group know of you and what you look like,"  
"Your group?" Naruto asked.  
"It's not important," the woman said, gesturing for Naruto to come to where she was standing, her voice becoming very serious, "Come here,"  
Naruto stood where he was, still regarding the woman, "Why?"  
"Follow me," the woman turned around and started walking in the direction of the temple. Since she found Naruto, it was best to bring him to the rest of the group since they should have killed Itachi and the person accompanying him by now. She figured it was best to have Naruto naively follow her back to the group instead of taking him by force. She found no amusement in fighting, especially if fighting could be avoided, and wanted to save herself the trouble. "No," Naruto didn't budge, "Tell me who you are first,"  
"Come with me, now," she stated firmly.  
Naruto remained standing where he was.  
The woman made a gesture with her hand toward Naruto's direction, a gesture that looked like she was making a toast with an invisible cup in her hand. Naruto stood there, wondering what the woman was up.  
Too inexperienced to know what was going on, Naruto became stiff with fear as he suddenly sensed this almost omnipotent and pervasive aura shooting out from the woman's extended hand. While he could not see what it was, he was able to sense it. He had no idea what he was sensing but he knew he was sensing something coming out from the woman's hands and coming straight toward him.  
It was as if the woman was the female incarnation of Gaara and she had the ability to control some form of invisible sand and it was coming straight toward him.  
Realizing that something was not right and that he should do something, Naruto dodged to the left, diving out of the way of whatever was coming straight toward him. He rolled on the ground and quickly got to his feet, getting into a defensive stance as he turned his attention toward the woman, just in time to sense something coming straight toward him again but unable to dodge it again.  
"Erk!" Naruto gasped as he suddenly found some invisible force clamping down around his neck, but not so much that he couldn't breath, as he was lifted off the ground, his arms suddenly pinned against his sides. His eyes widened in shock as he seemed to feel what he couldn't see.  
There was an aura surrounding him. It was warm, as if he was in some kinda of breathable but invisible liquid. He knew that there was something surrounding him even though he couldn't see it. "Hey! What's going on! Lemme go!" Naruto shouted loudly.  
"Bwee! Bwee!" Ton-Ton rushed toward where Naruto was, squealing upward toward him in a feeble attempt to help.  
The woman walked over to where Naruto was as he hovered in the air, his arms pinned by his side as he could be seen flailing his legs for some kind of invisible purchase. She glanced down at the helpless pig for a second before dismissing it and turning her attention onto Naruto.  
"You're good, Naruto," the woman smiled at him, "Perhaps the best I've ever come across. Very few have ever sensed my initial attack and able to react to it. You're the first person to not only sense it, but actually dodge it,"  
"W-who the hell are you!" Naruto shouted, still flailing his legs, "What have you done to me?"  
"Bwee!" Ton-Ton kept squealing upward toward Naruto, as if its own voice might be able to free Naruto.  
"Get away from here!" Naruto shouted down toward Ton-Ton.  
"Yes, do as he says and go away," the woman said to the pig, making a shooing gesture toward it.  
Ton-Ton backed away from the woman cautiously, seemingly understanding her words. It cast Naruto a quick glance before it turned around and started running in the direction of the temple.  
The woman watched Ton-Ton running away.  
"It seems like your pet pig isn't all that smart," the woman commented, shrugging her shoulders, "The people from my group aren't so merciful as I am. I'm sure if one of them sees it, they'll kill it for food. Oh well, it's none of my concern,"  
"Who are you?" Naruto shouted at the woman.  
"Don't worry about it," the woman answered, "It's actually useless to know at this point in time,"  
"What do you want with me? Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked, "Who's this group you're talking about?"  
"All trivial matters for you to know," she answered, "Let's just say that we're not really interested in you, so to speak. We're interested in the Nine-  
Tails hidden deep within you,"  
Naruto gasped, "You're the Akatsuki Organization?"  
The woman perked an eyebrow, "My, isn't this interesting? It seems like you're aware of us. I guess you must be really well-informed,"  
"Why are you here? How did you find me?" Naruto asked.  
"Trivial matters," she answered.  
She began walking toward the temple a good distance away. Naruto, still unable to move while being held, could be seen hovering along closely behind her.  
Oh my God, those people I saw by the temple surrounding Ranma must be the Akatsuki, Naruto realized. They must have somehow found out we were on our way here and came here to intersect us. Perhaps that's why Ranma went on to the temple without me, because he knew something like this might happen. Naruto struggled to free himself, much to no avail.  
"It's useless trying to break free," the woman said, her back toward Naruto, "You're caught in my chakra. It's impossible to break free from it once I have you,"  
"Chakra? You're using chakra to hold me?" Naruto asked. "Yes," she answered.  
Naruto's mind was racing at a mile a minute as he tired to figure out what to do. If he was being held by chakra, how could he get out of something like that? Ranma had never used such a technique like that before on him before so he had no idea how to counter it. There was so much Naruto didn't know.  
Wait a minute, Naruto thought. This feeling I'm feeling, it's kinda like the feeling I get when Ranma gives me chakra before our sparring matches. "Could it be possible?" Naruto said to himself.  
"Could what be possible?" the woman overheard Naruto and turned to face him.  
She gave Naruto a curious look.  
Naruto's eyes were closed, as if he was deep in concentration. This confused the woman because the young boy seemed to have mysteriously calmed down. That was a very unlikely response to such an experience. Most people would be freaking out by now. The boy seemed almost too calm and collected, as if he was used to something like this before.  
The woman had a very unique special ability. She had the unique ability to make her ki tangible. Since her ki was invisible, those who had to face her were at an incredible disadvantage. The only person with an ability similar to her own was Gaara, a young boy that had the ability to control sand. However, the main difference is that, unlike Gaara's sand, no one could visually see her chakra. Therefore, unless her opponents had an innate ability to sense ki, they were basically against impossible odds. Naruto had this idea that perhaps, with him being engulfed in ki, he could draw it into his body. Sure, he only knew how to draw in ki from his surroundings, and he had no idea how to draw in someone else's ki, but perhaps there was a chance he could draw in ki from a combination of both. The woman continued to regard Naruto, wondering what he was up to.  
"What are you doing?" the woman said when she suddenly felt her ki somehow entering the young boy's body.  
Naruto smiled as he realized that his assumption was correct, that he could draw in the ki surrounding him. The woman's ki wasn't unlike the ki Ranma regularly used to give him for their sparring sessions. The woman, realizing that Naruto seemed to be taking her chakra into his body, figured it was best not to let him continue doing so. She had no idea what that could mean and didn't particularly care to find out. Besides, with a limited amount of ki to work with before needing some rest to replenish her ki, the idea of basically giving her ki away to someone else didn't sit well with her.  
Naruto fell to the ground when the woman released her hold over him. He ended up landing on his head simply because he didn't expect his plan to have worked so effective and to have been released so quickly.  
"Ouch," Naruto said, rubbing his head as he got to his feet.  
"What was that you just did?" the woman asked, a bit of concern in her voice.  
She had ever reason to be concerned. For some odd reason, her ability to manipulate her ki to engulf the young boy seemed to have little to no effect. It was as if her most unique and powerful ability had just been rendered useless. This was because her ability to capture and crush her opponents using nothing but her ki was her main offensive attack. Naruto seemed truly impressed with himself, "Wow, Ranma's training kicks butt!"  
He rubbed his hands around on his body to see if he was okay and realized that he seemed perfectly fine. Actually, he felt a little bit better than before, having taken in some of that surrounding ki to heal himself more. Afterall, he wasn't fully healed from his battle against Ranma not that long ago.  
"I dunno what the heck you were trying to do but I'm onto you," Naruto proclaimed loudly, pushing aside the fact that it wasn't until after he got caught and broke free to realize that.  
The woman seemed rather amused by what the boy had done and figured that it must had been a fluke. Of all the hundreds of powerful opponents she had come across and fought, no one had ever been able to deal with let alone counter her special abilities and she would be damned if some little boy was able to.  
Naruto stared at the woman, his body ready to react to anything she tried, trying to assess the woman and her fighting prowess. Trying to figure out just how powerful she was difficult.  
I'll just go ahead and crush his legs, the woman thought. We simply need the boy to remain alive so we can extract the power of the Nine-Tails from him. Whether or not he can walk is trivial.  
The woman made another gesture with her hand toward Naruto.  
Naruto, seeing nothing but the sensing something coming straight toward him, jumped toward the side as a massive flood of ki engulfed the area where he was standing a second ago. He flipped in the air and landing a short distance away, only to fall to the ground as he felt what seemed like an invisible hand grab a hold of one of his legs. He tried to jump away but was unable to, held fast by the woman's ki.  
Damn, not only can I not see her chakra, but it moves faster than Gaara can move his sand, Naruto thought. He tried to struggle free, kicking and punching at the invisible ki holding on to his leg. He found himself actually hitting something even though he couldn't see it.  
The woman smirked as she manipulated her ki to pick Naruto him up off the ground so, suspending the young boy in mid-air upside down.  
She slowly made a fist with her extend hand, closing it slowly as if she was holding Naruto's leg with that hand and proceeding to crush it.  
"Ahhhh!" Naruto shouted as he felt this invisible vice-grip over his leg tightening, slowly crushing it. He looked at his captured leg and could clearly see the fabric of his pants becoming squeezed as his leg continued to be compressed.  
Naruto's pushed the intense pain to the back of his mind, realizing that he was doomed if he let himself panic. He needed to keep his mind clear and come up with a plan.  
A thought entered Naruto's mind. 'Take it in' it said.  
Realizing that he only had a few seconds before his leg would be crushed and basically had nothing to lose, Naruto bent at the waist and placed his hands on the invisible ki gripping his leg.  
Naruto closed his eyes and thought back to the many times Ranma would give some of his very own ki to him shortly before every sparring session. He also thought about the time when he was in mortal danger and had somehow managed to draw in the ki from his weighted vest to defeat that large man when he and Ranma had to go bring Sasuke back to Hidden Leaf Village after he had defected.  
Naruto's eyes widened as he felt the crushing sensation around his leg lessening as he simultaneously felt a massive amount of ki entering his body through his hands.  
It's working, Naruto thought with much relief. It's working! The woman was shocked as she realized that Naruto's ability to draw in the ki she was using against him was no fluke. What the hell is going on, the woman thought while in a state of shock. This young boy is negating my chakra! He's taking in my chakra for his own! How the hell is something like that possible? The woman could feel her invisible hold over Naruto lessening.  
He's going to break out if I don't do something, she though. If he has this ability to taking in my own chakra, then I need to produce more chakra than he could take in. I need to overwhelm him.  
The woman generated a massive amount of ki from within her body. "Ahhhh!" Naruto shouted as he felt a massive amount of ki starting to crush his leg again. It only took him a second to realize what the woman was doing. It seemed like she had come to the conclusion that he had some odd ability to draw in her ki and was trying to overpower him.  
Naruto tried his best to draw in the ki but found the pain unbearable. He could feel the bones of his leg slowly starting to fracture under the intense pressure. It also didn't help that his body felt like it was going to explode from drawing in so much ki already. The woman seemed capable of producing more ki than he could take in and a shattered leg would be the result if he didn't do something and fast. Since he couldn't take in all that ki, he needed to somehow redirect all that ki somewhere and fast.  
"That's it!" Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.  
Naruto, while still upside down, pulled his hands away from the invisible ki engulfing his leg and straightened his body so that he was facing the woman. Naruto grinned as he extended both of his hands toward the woman.  
The woman regarded Naruto curiously, wondering what he was up to.  
"Eat this! Mouko Takabisha!"  
new stuff 6/23

The ki-blast rocketed from Naruto's extended hands, flying through the air and straight toward the surprised woman. The woman, seeing the fiery projectile coming straight toward her, was forced to relinquish her hold over Naruto to bring her ki back to protect her.  
The projectile struck the woman right in the chest, exploding in a fiery explosion as it engulfed both Naruto and the woman, sending the woman flying bodily backwards where she twisted in the air and landed on her feet, coming to a sliding halt a good twenty meters away from where she had been struck. Despite having been struck with a rather powerful ki-blast, the woman looked unscathed. Her breathing was a bit labored, she having been forced to exert a tremendous amount of energy to protect herself from such a blast.  
Who the hell is that boy, she wondered herself. What was that projectile? Is that boy tapping into the powers of the Nine-Tails? How is it possible to do something like that?  
She glanced in Naruto's direction where she saw him getting up to his feet, dusting himself. His clothes were singed, having been caught in the explosion unprotected due to his close proximity to the woman when he shot that ki-blast.  
"Ugh," Naruto shook the cobwebs from his head. His ears were ringing from the loud explosion. He looked down at himself and was pretty surprised at how hurt he looked. He felt fine but his clothes looked like it had seen better days.  
He glanced in the direction of the woman and noticed that she seemed unscathed. This surprised him because he thought he would have gotten her. He could have sworn he had the element of surprise on his side but it seemed like the woman's reflexes were quick enough to react to such a blast.  
He then noticed her labored breathing.  
She's tired, Naruto thought. Maybe that blast did hurt her. Wait, maybe she's a lot like Gaara and was forced to use a lot of chakra to protect herself like Gaara does to create that armor of sand of his. Maybe the woman has something similar to Gaara's defensive barrier.  
Naruto smirked as he realized something. While this woman was part of the Akatsuki Organization and was considered extremely powerful, it seemed like all the training Naruto had gone through made him capable of putting up a strong opposition.  
Little did Naruto know that the woman, who was actually considered the strongest member of the Akatsuki Organization, had never faced an opponent capable of absorbing her chakra. In a sense, Naruto's training made him a natural enemy to the woman's abilities. In a world where it seemed naturally impossible to fight off someone possessing that woman's abilities, it seemed like Naruto's other-worldly training made it possible to not only fight against it but actually fight well against it.  
"That's quite a technique you've got there," the woman said after a moment of rest, hiding her annoyance all the while, "I've never seen something like that before,"  
"There's more of where that came from," Naruto lied. He had expended all of the ki he had taken in shooting that one ki-blast.  
The woman sneered in annoyance, "I guess it's time I get serious,"  
Naruto reached into the folds of his clothes and produced several daggers, throwing them at the woman. Knowing that his life was in danger, Naruto had no qualm with fighting a woman. To him, she was an enemy and that was all that mattered.  
The woman didn't flinch as the dagger bounced off the invisible barrier of ki surrounding the woman.  
"Conventional attacks are useless against me," the woman commented. Naruto said, "I figured so but I just wanted to make sure. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, making the proper hand seals in the process. A cloud of smoke formed around Naruto, eventually disappearing to reveal ten exact clones of himself.  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, huh?" the woman smiled, amused, "That's a rather advanced technique for someone as young as yourself to be capable of doing,"  
The group Naruto quickly fanned out to surround the woman. The woman didn't seem one bit bothered by this fact. Having realized that something like thrown daggers would be useless, Naruto came to the conclusion that he had to rely on ki-blasts and that the only way to quickly gather enough ki from his surroundings were to actually have all his clones gather in ki at once and transfer the collected ki to him. Hopefully, the woman would not figure out what he planning to do until it was too late.  
The woman looked around at the multiple Naruto surrounding her, sensing that something was wrong. It felt like her own ki was being drawn into the multiple clones and she needed to do something.  
"Enough!" she shouted, making a large twirling motion with her arms, producing a massive sphere of ki spinning quickly around her. The ground surrounding her suddenly started breaking apart and flying upward, a crater forming around her. Every single Naruto surrounding her were blown upward into the sky as if struck hard from below before they crashed down on the ground, all but one disappearing in a cloud of smoke.  
"Oh man, that's just like Neji's spinning defense," Naruto grunted as he slowly got back to his feet, "Except the woman didn't spin her body like Neji has to,"  
He glanced at the woman and noticed that there was a circular crater formed around her. It was a good twenty feet in diameter, significantly larger than the one Neji would produced had he used such a technique. Naruto glanced at the ground right by the woman's feet. He noticed that, liking the ground surrounding her, it was undisturbed as if all the ki that had came out every part of the woman's body save for her feet.  
"That's it!" Naruto said, realizing what her weakness was. Naruto cocked an arm back, "Let's see you fight against like this you old hag!"  
"What did you call me?" the woman shouted, offended by being called an old hag. She was anything but old.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" Naruto shouted as he jammed his index finger into the ground, envisioning his body sending out a wave of ki out from his finger and down along the ground to where the woman was standing.  
The woman crouched low, ready to jump away and dodge whatever attack Naruto was trying to execute, but noticed nothing was happening. There was no explosion, no flying projectile, nothing.  
She regarded Naruto, wondering what he was trying to do. Was it some kind of ruse? Did the technique require time to execute? If that was the case, Naruto was wide open and she should seize the opportunity and knock him out immediately.  
"Ahhhhhh!" Naruto shouted, throwing his hand up into the air.  
Naruto's index finger was bent backwards, the young boy having done nothing but jam his finger trying to perform a technique he had only seen but had no real idea how it worked.  
"My finger!" Naruto waved his hand back and forth, "Ahhhh! It's dislocated!"  
Naruto could be seen running around in a circle, gripping at his finger with his good hand, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"  
The woman watched Naruto for a second before she snickered. The sight was pretty amusing and definitely unexpected.  
"I-it's nothing!" Naruto said, gritting his teeth, "Fine, I didn't figure that technique out yet, big deal! I can still beat you!"  
"Hmph!" the woman said.  
She made a wide upward arcing motion with her arm, much like the way a girl would throw a soft ball, in the direction of Naruto, sending out a massive wave of ki right at him.  
Naruto's eyes widened as he sensed an overwhelming aura coming straight toward him and tried to run away but knew it was moving too fast and was too large to dodge. He ended up getting hit in the back by what felt like a massive twenty foot club as he tried to run away and was sent flying through the air, eventually coming to a sliding halt.  
"Uhh," Naruto moaned as he lay on the ground on his back.  
He looked backwards and noticed he was almost back where he started, right by the outskirts of the forest that surrounded the open field where the temple was located. He had somehow been blown bodily a good two hundred feet through the air. This surprised him because he figured being hit hard enough to be thrown that far would have easily knocked him out.  
Looking back over his shoulder, he caught sight of the woman as she made her way to where he was. She seemed in no rush to catch up to him, as if knowing that Naruto would not be going anywhere.  
When Naruto started getting back up to his feet, the woman stopped dead in her tracks, in a state of shock at seeing someone, a young boy for that matter, able to get up from such a devastating blow. She had been able to knock out several of her Akatsuki brethren with that same attack during the times when they had their differences and ended up fighting one another.  
Little did the woman know that Naruto sparred regularly against Ranma and Ranma hit far harder than her. Heck, Naruto had been hit so hard so many times that a blow like that, while painful, was not enough to actually knock him out.  
Naruto got to his feet and rubbed at his back. He rubbed at it much like the way an old man would rub at his lower back after having sat down for too long, arching his back all the while.  
"I'm impressed, you're the only person to have ever gotten up from such an attack," the woman commented.  
"You're gonna hafta hit me a lot harder than that," Naruto taunted, still holding his finger, "My finger hurt more than that hit you gave me,"  
"You little brat!" the woman found herself getting angry. She was about to attack him some other ki-blast attack when she suddenly stopped. She took a moment to calm down as she realized that the young boy seemed to be goading her, as if trying to make her angry and cloud her judgment.  
"You fight unlike anyone I've ever come across," she stated, "You don't fight like someone your age,"  
"That's because I've been trained by some of the best," Naruto proclaimed proudly. A loud explosion occurred in the forestation a short distance behind him, causing Naruto to turn his attention away from the woman. It only took him a second to notice that the explosion seemed to have occurred in the area where he had seen Shikamaru and the others. Could they have been the cause of that explosion, and if so, for what reason?

"So, what's the deal?" Ranma asked impatiently, looking around at the members of the Akatsuki that were surrounding him and Itachi, "Are you all gonna attack us or are you gonna pretend this is a Chinese kung-fu flick and attack individually? Afterall, I have no intention of joining your organization so I guess we're gonna hafta fight. So, who wants to go next?"  
The man with the bo staff stepped forward, "I'll take a crack at it," He felt confident in dealing with Ranma. While Ranma did seem to be a very strong martial artist, strong enough that he was basically able toy with his opponent, it seemed like he could be easily taken down from a distance. Afterall, from the bald man's point of view, it didn't take much effort to hit Ranma with that bo staff of his.  
"Oh, the hot head," Ranma smirked, cracking his knuckles, "I figured you'd wanna go next. I'm glad. I owe you for that hit you got off me with that damn warping bo staff of yours,"  
"You mean when I did something like this?" the man asked as he jabbed his staff straight out in front of him, the tip of the staff disappearing into thin air.  
Ranma got into a stance, ready to react to anything the moment the tip of the staff appeared out of no where and tried to hit him. To Ranma's surprise, no attack came, not from behind, or from his sides, or even from his front. Instead, the tip of the staff appeared right behind Itachi, hitting the young man in the back.  
Itachi ended up tumbling forward, struck in the back by the staff.  
Ranma watched as Itachi tumbled forward to a stop, lying motionless on his stomach. He quickly turned his gaze from Itachi and onto the bald man.  
"Hey, what gives? Why'd you go and do something like that?" Ranma asked, "I thought you were going to attack me instead,"  
"I never said that I intended to attack you," the bald man smirked, "It's not my fault you assumed so,"  
The man cast his gaze toward Itachi's unmoving form.  
"How long do you intend to stay there?" the bald man chuckled, "You'd actually think I'd fall for a trick like that?"  
Ranma wondered what the bald man was talking about. He cast a glance at Itachi. After a moment, he smiled, "Oh, now I get it,"  
Itachi's unmoving body disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, a small log had replaced Itachi's body, Itachi having used the Kawarimi technique, a technique that made it seem like he had been struck to confuse his opponent momentarily.  
Ranma looked around, wondering where Itachi was and where he had hidden himself. A glance at the log and the oddly disturbed ground around it told Ranma that Itachi had somehow gone underground.  
Hm, I wonder if he's going pop up from underground for a surprise attack, Ranma thought. Something like that can probably catch people off guard.  
"Don't even bother trying to attack from underground," the bald man said in a mocking voice, "It might work against weak opponents but not against someone like us,"  
The bald man brought his bo staff in front of him and spun in around in a circular fashion, as if creating a spinning shield, deflecting the half dozen daggers that shot up front the ground in front of him and straight toward his head.  
The daggers were deflected in a way such that they ended up flying straight toward Ranma, surprising him. Ranma was forced to dodge the incoming projectiles, a dagger narrowly missing him and even cutting a bit of his shirt in the process.  
Hm, this guy's pretty good, Ranma thought with a smirk. He may be a hot-head, but he doesn't fight like a hot-head. He's fights pretty calmly and with a clear head. I guess I misjudged him.  
Ranma watched as the bald man quickly whirled around, swinging the bo staff behind him, narrowly missing Itachi as he popped out from the ground behind him. Itachi was forced to duck the wide attack and abandon his attack on his opponent's back, hopping backwards and landing a short distance away.  
Wow, Itachi's pretty good as well, Ranma thought with amusement. That's pretty clever, using those daggers to distract his opponent from the front so he could attack from behind. That's a pretty good tactic. Too bad the guy was able to see through such a ruse. Ranma, seeing as the man's back was now toward him since he was now facing Itachi, bent down and picked up a rock. He threw it at the man, hitting him in the back of the head.  
The man fell forward and onto his stomach like a sack of potatoes.  
"Heh," Ranma laughed, "That was kinda easy-"  
Ranma suddenly sharp pain in his lower back as he was struck from behind. He quickly leaned forward to lessen the impact of the blow, twisting in the air to face his opponent, impressed that someone managed to sneak up behind him.  
Ranma was surprised when he found himself looking at the bald man as he grinned confidently, his bo staff resting over his shoulders. "If you fall for such simple tactics, you're as good as dead," the bald man smirked, "What, you honestly think something as simple as a rock would actually hit me? How asinine,"  
Ranma rubbed at his lower back as he looked toward where Itachi was. By Itachi's feet was a log that replaced the bald man's body. The body had disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind a log. It seemed like the bald man also knew the Kawarimi technique just like Itachi.  
"Okay, I hafta hand it to ya," Ranma said, "You're not that bad. You've managed to hit me not only once, but twice, both from behind. I guess that means one thing,"  
"Oh?" the bald man smirked.  
"Either you're really good, or I'm really rusty," Ranma said.  
The man started laughing, amused at the comment.  
He stopped in mid-laugh when someone's clamped down over his mouth as he was suddenly lifted off his feet. His eyes widened as he realized that Ranma was standing right in front of him and was holding him by his jaw and lifting him up with one arm. He managed to glance past Ranma's shoulders where he saw the dust starting to float up into the air, Ranma having moved so fast that it took a full second for the ground to even register having been disturbed. The man's eyes didn't even see Ranma close the gap between the two of them until Ranma had been right in front of him and picking him up off his feet.  
"What do you think?" Ranma smirked, "You think you've managed to hit me because you're that good or because I'm rusty? I'd like to think that it's because I'm rusty and that you hitting me twice has made me realize I should be more serious,"  
The bald man, while still being held by Ranma, swung his bo staff toward Ranma's side but was stopped when Ranma reached out with his free hand to intercept the man's forearm. Ranma grinned, "C'mon, you can do better than that,"  
"Bweee!" came a noise.  
Ranma, while still holding the man, turned his attention toward the noise. To his surprise, he saw Ton-Ton as the pig could be seen running past the Akatsuki members surrounding him and Itachi and right up to Ranma.  
Several seconds passed as Ranma, still holding the struggling man in his hands, looked down at Ton-Ton, seemingly in a state of shock. Afterall, anyone would be surprised to see a pig run up to him while he was in the middle of what could be a life-or-death battle against several extremely powerful fighter. Ton-Ton and Ranma just looked at one another. "Ton-Ton?" Ranma asked, seemingly in a state of shock. Ranma blinked a few times, believing he was seeing things he wasn't supposed to. It wasn't until Ton-Ton squealed toward Ranma did he realize that Ton-Ton was really there, right in front of him.  
"Bweee!"

new stuff 6/25

Ton-Ton squealed several times toward Ranma.  
Ranma, able to understand Ton-Ton, suddenly became concerned.  
"What? Naruto's here?" Ranma asked the pig, "Where the Hell is he?"  
Ton-Ton squealed in reply. It squealed again.  
Ranma nodded after a moment before quickly turning toward Itachi, "Follow me, I can't hang around here,"  
"What?" Itachi asked.  
"I hafta go help Naruto," Ranma said, "He's in trouble and I can't be here and there at the same place. Also, it seems like your brother's here,"  
"What? My brother's here?" Itachi gasped, saying a bit louder than he should've for the nearby Akatsuki members somehow managed to overhear that comment.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, Ton-Ton said it saw Sasuke a short while ago. I dunno why he's here. Whatever the case is, we will worry about find out later. I need to go help Naruto. Follow me,"  
Itachi said nothing as he suddenly realized that, with Ranma leaving him alone to fend for himself, he was as good as dead and his goal for absolute vengeance will never be achieved at this rate. As much as Itachi hated to admit it, Ranma was so overwhelmingly powerful that his being an ally basically evened out the playing field.  
"Follow me," Ranma told Itachi. Ranma was about to run off until he realized he was still holding the bald man in his hand. "Oh yeah, I forgot about you," Ranma stated.  
He quickly slapped the man in the side of the face, sending him flying bodily through the air where he crashed on the ground and went tumbling a few times before he flipped himself up and landed on his feet.  
"I'm going to kill you for that!" the bald man looked seriously ticked off, baring his teeth toward Ranma as he wiped some blood from his mouth.  
"Yeah, right, whatever you say," Ranma laughed. He then placed both hands on the ground as he shouted, "Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!"  
The bald man, unable to react in time, could do nothing but look down at his feet as the ground below him shot upward in a massive explosion, sending the man flying upward a good fifty feet where he twisted in the air so he could land on his feet again.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" Ranma shouted again as he pressed both hands on the ground again.  
The bald man, badly battered from the first barrage of rocky shrapnel, was unable to do anything as he fell right down on the explosion and was blown bodily upward again, screaming all the while. At the height of his arc, the bald man twisted in the air in an attempt to land on his feet again since a fall from that height would do him quite a bit of damage.  
"Heh, I can do this all day," Ranma stated as Itachi and the remaining Akatsuki members watched Ranma do this, "Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!"  
The bald man was blown bodily upward a third time as the ground exploded upward right underneath where the bald man would had landed. A third time around, the man flipped in the air, pointing his feet toward the ground. However, it was clearly evident that he was badly hurt for his movements were very sluggish and his body were riddled with cuts and scraps.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" Ranma did it a forth time, sending the bald man flying bodily upward yet again right before he landed. Unlike with the previous three times, the bald man made no attempt to twist in the air, having been knocked unconscious, unable to continue on. He ended up landing on the ground with a loud thud near one of his brethren, the woman with the long blond hair. She had made no attempts to catch him, leaving Ranma to realize that there seemed to be no camaraderie to the Akatsuki Organization.  
There was a long moment of silence as everyone basically took in what had just transpired. Everyone regarded Ranma with a sense of fear, as if they had suddenly realized that Ranma was a lot more powerful than they had ever believed, as if all this time, he had been toying with them and basically letting a few of them actually hit him.  
"C'mon, let's get outta here while we can," Ranma quickly told Itachi.  
Itachi watched as Ranma picked up Ton-Ton and then turned around and began heading off in the direction from where Ton-Ton had come. The thought of running away did not sit well with him, but he was a smart person and knew that it was his only option. Actually, his other option was to stay and die fighting, which he didn't mind provided he killed all of them in the process but he knew that that would never happened.  
Itachi, as strong a fighter as he may be, at his absolute best, could probably kill one of the Akatsuki members before he would be overwhelmed by the others. Itachi could not handle multiple opponents of their skill alone.  
He glanced in the direction of the bald man as he lay unconscious a short distance away. Realizing that now was his chance to kill him, he reached into the folds of his clothes and produced a dagger, throwing it straight toward the bald man's neck.  
To his annoyance, the dagger was deflected from his intended path the blond woman used her large mane of hair to basically swat it out of the air. The woman didn't move one bit, her hair basically moving as if it was alive and a separate entity from the woman herself.  
"Che," Itachi sneered as he realized that he had lost his chance to rid yet another Akatsuki member. Itachi glanced in the direction of Ranma and snorted in annoyance for he knew he had to go with Ranma. He could do nothing but stay close to Ranma since Ranma alone helped even out the playing field. He displayed first hand that pure skill can overcome numbers.  
Itachi quickly followed after Ranma, noticing that one of the Akatsuki members had circled around to block off their path.  
Directly in Ranma's path were the giant of a man, the man that stood a towering ten feet tall, possessing arms larger than Ranma's entire body. The sight of the giant worried Itachi quite a bit. The giant wasn't originally that size, only taking on that size when he wanted to be serious. The man only had one special ability, but it was perhaps one of the most bothersome ability. The man had the ability to grow into a giant of basically incomparable strength, or at least an upper strength level that no one had ever witnessed to date, as well as blinding speed. While the man lacked polished fighting skills, his sheer size, strength, and speed made it really easy for him to simply overpower using brute unrelenting force.  
"Just where do you think you're going?" the giant asked in a low booming voice. Although everyone there did feel a sense of nervousness now they had witness what Ranma was capable of, the giant had been the first to regain his composure since he was more fearless than the others, he being physically tough and confident that he had an extremely high pain threshold.  
"Through you if you don't move," Ranma said, proceeding to run straight toward the giant.  
"I don't think so!" the giant shouted as he cocked an arm back, throwing a massive fist straight toward Ranma when he was close enough.  
Ranma didn't bother dodging. Instead, came to a sudden stop. While Ton-Ton was snuggly tucked under one of his arms, Ranma spread his stance so that he had a firm base and low center of gravity, bringing up his free arm and so the elbow was pointing right at the giant's incoming fist as it came crashing against it. A loud crack could be heard as the bones in the giant's fingers broke when his hand struck Ranma's elbow with devastating force, sending Ranma sliding backwards a good twenty feet.  
The giant shouted out in pain as he quickly brought his fist back toward his body, stepping backwards away from Ranma, clutching at it with his good hand, a look of complete shock and pain on his face.  
Ranma smirked as he tapped at the pointy end of his elbow with his other hand.  
"Heh, I betcha y'didn't expect me to do an Elbow Block, huh?" Ranma smirked, "I learned that from Ippo Makunouchi, a friend of mine,"  
Itachi came to a halt a short distance behind Ranma, just in time to see the giant cock his other arm back and send it rocketing toward Ranma's head. Ranma quickly tucked Ton-Ton under his other arm as he raised his other arm, pointing his elbow toward the giant's incoming fist as it struck him. Once again, the giant fist struck the pointy end of Ranma's elbow. Once again, a loud crack could be heard as the bones of the giant's fingers broke from the sharp impact.  
"Gee, I guess you're a slow learner, huh?" Ranma smirked as the giant dropped to one knee, his arms hanging limply down his sides, no longer useful, "I guess you needed two broken hands to realize that punching me can hurt you more than it can hurt me,"  
Ranma then executed a roundhouse toward the side of the giant's body. The giant, seeing the incoming attack, brought one tree-trunk sized arm up in an attempt to block it. However, no kick came even though the giant had braced himself for it.  
The giant, after a moment, realizing that no kick seemed to have come, gingerly lowered his guard and noticed that Ranma was no longer there, the roundhouse kick having been nothing more than a ruse.  
He found himself looking at Ranma's back as Ranma ran off, still carrying Ton-  
Ton. It only took him a moment before he realized what Ranma had done. Ranma had simply made it seem like he was going to attack to make the giant flinch so it would give him the time he needed to run by him.  
Suddenly realizing that Itachi had been following behind Ranma, the giant quickly turned around, angry at himself for forgetting about Itachi.  
The giant's eyes widened as he caught sight of a shadow coming straight toward him. He instinctively raised his forearms to shield his face, bringing them up just in time as several thrown daggers struck him in his forearms. Itachi, who have been following behind Ranma, had tried to attack when the giant's back had been turned toward him, too busy watching Ranma as Ranma continued running away from the group. "You little punk! You really think I'd fall for an attack like that?" the giant sneered at Itachi, ignoring the daggers that were embedded in his forearms as he swung a massive arm toward Itachi. While the giant's hands were broken, that didn't mean his forearms couldn't be used as deadly weapons. "Che!" Itachi sneered in annoyance as he jumped over the giant's counter attack, landing nearby, realizing he had also lost his opportunity to kill yet another Akatsuki member. He told himself that there would be more opportunities and being unable to kill them so easily should be expected. Afterall, each individual Akatsuki member were about as skilled as Itachi. If they could be so easily killed, they wouldn't be a part of the Akatsuki Organization in the first place. He quickly turned around and ran off, quickly following after Ranma.  
Itachi couldn't help but feel annoyed that he would most likely never be able to kill any of them from behind, all of them having witness one of their own dying by such a fate and having no intention of dying in the exact same fashion. As he ran, he checked inside his outfit and realized he was now out of daggers.  
"Che!" Itachi sneered in annoyance. Without his daggers, killing would be all the harder, not unless he resorted to his Sharingan ability as well as those techniques he acquired through dealing with Ranma, like his over version of Ranma's ki-blast.  
Itachi glanced backwards over his shoulder and caught sight of the entire Akatsuki Organization, save for the short haired girl and bald man, giving chase.  
"He's going to catch up to me," Itachi muttered to himself, very well aware that one of his Akatsuki brethren, the blind swordsman, was extremely quick and will catch up to him in no time.  
He glanced forward where he saw the distance between him and Ranma increasing, Ranma's running speed far greater than Itachi's own, despite the fact that Ranma was carrying Ton-Ton.  
Itachi couldn't help but feel a sense of relief when he saw Ranma stop to wait up for him.  
"C'mon!" Ranma called out to him, "They're catching up to you!"  
Itachi, realizing that he needed to do something to slow them down, took in a massive breath as he closed his eyes, digging deep down into his inner ki for the technique he was about to execute, executing several hand seals as he continued running.  
After a few seconds of deep concentration, Itachi quickly stopped and turned around to face the pursuing group, opening his eyes to display his Sharingan in full use.  
"Fire Element! Fire Dragon no Jutsu!" Itachi said as he opened his mouth and out came a massive column of fire. It rocketed forward, incinerating the ground as it passed over it, heading straight toward the chasing group.  
He continued breathing out fire from his mouth as the fire continued to become increasingly hotter, turning white. It continued to getting hotter and hotter, eventually reaching temperatures rivaling that of the surface of the sun.  
The entire field was lit brightly from the brilliance of Itachi's flames, shadows flickering and dancing back and forth along the ground. The flames were so bright that it made nighttime look like daylight.  
When Itachi stopped spewing flames from his mouth, all that remained was a massive fifty foot crater in front of him, created from the flames melting it due to the intense heat it produced. Itachi found himself annoyed when looked at the other end of the crater and saw a massive dirt wall. Standing on top of the dirt wall were all the Akatsuki members, all of them unscathed. "So annoying," he muttered coldly, "What a waste of chakra!"  
He watched as the dirt wall crumbled as all of the Akatsuki members landed on the ground. It turned out that one of them had been quick enough to manipulate the ground and make it shoot upward into the sky, bringing the group up along with them so they would be safe from the flames is it scorched the earth below them.  
Itachi quickly turned around and started running away as the group began chasing after him. By now, Ranma was no longer in sight having continued running onward all the while.  
As Itachi ran, he could tell that they were catching up to him and realized he needed to stop them dead in their tracks.  
"I must use it..." Itachi said after a long moment of contemplation.  
Itachi closed his eyes, taking in another deep breath. After a moment, he stopped and turned around, opening his eyes with now displayed the Sharingan that belong to his bloodline, as he placed both of his hands on the ground.  
The ground started to shake violently as a massive column of black flames shot out along the ground in front of Itachi and straight toward the group. It sped forward around twenty feet before it suddenly split in half at right angles, one half traveling left and the other half traveling right, both continuing onward for several hundred feet. As they did so, a massive wall of black flames erupted upward a good fifty feet into the air along the path of the black flames, the wall of flames also black as well.  
The pursuing group was forced to stop their chase or risk running right into the wall of black flames. While none of them had seen such a technique like that before, they all sensed a great power to it and knew they should not try the jump through it and should wait it out.  
Itachi coughed a few times as he slowly got to his feet and turned around and began running off, breathing heavily.  
"T-that should hold them off for a short while,"

Naruto glanced back over his shoulder as he hopped from tree branch to tree branch. The woman he had been fighting against was hot on his heels and gaining on him.  
"What the hell am I gonna do?" Naruto asked himself. He had no idea where he was going and what he was going to do when the woman eventually caught up to him.  
Naruto snickered as he wondered if he would be able to fool the woman a second time around. He thought back to how he managed to break away from the woman momentarily and just how something so pathetically stupid could work so effectively.  
"I'm going to show you something I'm sure you've never seen before," Naruto had said to the woman.  
"Oh?" the woman narrowed her eyes at him critically.  
"Ahhh!" Naruto shouted as he started gathering his ki, very sure that the woman could detect it and wanting her to do so. When he did so, the woman could be seen becoming cautious, readying herself for whatever Naruto had in store for her.  
"Saotome Ultimate Secret Technique!" Naruto then shouted before promptly turning around and running away. The woman had stood there dumbly for a good ten seconds before she found out she had been tricked. When she found out, she became enraged and started chasing after Naruto with a vengeance. That had happened around five minutes ago. Realizing that the woman was quite a force to be reckoned with, Naruto wanted time to think and come up with a plan in dealing with her and figured running away was the best course of action.  
Oddly enough, Naruto couldn't believe he was actually running away on his own accord. A stubborn child, Naruto was most likely the kind of person that would stand his ground and fight instead of run away.  
That five minute window to think to himself help him not one bit.  
"Oh, wait! I know!" Naruto said to himself, "If Shikamaru and Neji and Lee are right where I last remember them, they will be able to help out. Even though this girl is very strong, against the four of us, we should be able to beat her,"  
A thought crossed his mind of Shikamaru and his team getting hurt helping out. That would be bad and it worried him that that might happen.  
"No, Shikamaru's good at coming up with a plan," Naruto said to himself, "I'm confident he'll be able to come up with something. The elders didn't promote him to Chuunin for nothing, afterall,"  
Naruto came to a stop on a nearby branch when he caught sight a large open area of devastated trees. This surprised him because he remembered this area of forest consisted of nothing but trees. It basically looked like a chunk of the forest had been blown up.  
"What the heck happened here?" Naruto scratched his head.  
He looked around, wondering if what he was seeing was a result of that explosion he had seen earlier. The crater looked to be around thirty feet in diameter and void of foliage. Naruto turned around and caught sight of a six-armed man as he appeared from the nearby shadows of the trees, carrying an unconscious Lee under one of his arms.  
"Hey! Whatcha doing to my friend?" Naruto shouted at the man. He didn't recognize the man, Ranma having dealt with him back then while he himself had been forced to deal with one of the man's brethren, a large man that he barely managed to defeat had it not been for his ingenious use of the ki-laden weighted vest, "Put him down!"  
"Ah, he's your friend, huh?" the six-armed man smirked.  
"Put him down or you're gonna be sorry," Naruto shouted. He assumed the six-  
armed man was with the woman and was therefore the enemy.  
"Come and get him," the six-armed man chucked Lee over his shoulder, the young boy falling down toward the ground below. "No!" Naruto shouted.  
Just as Naruto was about to use the branch to propel him downward toward the freefalling Lee, the six-armed man shot a string of web from his mouth where it snagged one of Lee's ankles, stopping him in mid-drop.  
"Here, you can have him back!" the six-armed man said as he reached out and grabbed the string of web before swinging Lee around in a wide arc, sending him flying bodily right into Naruto.  
The six-armed man found himself a bit surprised when Naruto caught Lee quite easily. He had been expecting to use Lee as a make-shift wrecking ball to knock the newcomer out.  
Naruto ended up sliding backwards along the branch a few feet to a halt.  
He gently placed Lee down on the branch, checking to see if he was all right.  
Lee looked to be in bad shape, his body beaten and bloody. Luckily, although Lee looked to be hurt badly, his breathing seemed steady as his chest could be seeing slowly rising and falling. "Who the hell are you?" Naruto shouted, baring his teeth toward the six-armed man in anger. Naruto considered Lee both a rival and a friend, and right now, he saw Lee as a friend in need.  
Naruto glanced down toward the ground where he caught sight of Neji as emerged from the foliage below, jumping across the length of the crater, twisting in mid-flight to throw some daggers into the bushes where he had emerged before disappearing into the foliage again.  
A second latter, large man and a young-looking woman emerged from the bushes, jumping across the crater as they gave chase. The large man could be seen holding a tree trunk, having used it as a make-shift shield against Neji's thrown daggers.  
Naruto's eyes widened when he recognized the large man. The large man didn't seem to notice him, too busy chasing after Neji.  
"What the hell's going on here?" Naruto asked himself, "What the hell's that guy doing here?"  
Naruto caught sight of a string of web flying straight toward him and quickly ducked it as it went sailing right over his head, the six-armed man having no qualms in attacking while the young boy was distracted.  
"You've got quick reflexes," the six-armed man smirked.  
Naruto got into a battle stance, ready to fight, as he watched the six-armed man jump onto the same branch as his own, proceeding to walk toward him. The young boy glanced down at Lee and realized that there was no way he could hang around and fight. He needed to take Lee to a safe location. "Did you really think you were going to get away?" Naruto heard a voice coming from behind him.  
Naruto's face became pale as he realized that the woman had finally caught up to him. He had completely forgotten about her. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated. Lee was unconscious by his feet while he now had two enemies to deal with.  
"Ah, yet another sheep to slaughter," the six-armed man smirked as he saw a woman emerged from the shadows.  
The woman glanced past Naruto and toward the six-armed man.  
"Who the hell are you?" the woman asked in annoyance, figuring the six-armed man was with Naruto and there to help him.  
"That's none of your concern since you'll be dead anyway," came the reply.  
The woman regarded the six-armed man for a moment before she started laughing, "Do you have any idea who you're talking to? I suggest you run away while you're still alive because you're messing with the wrong person,"  
"I think you should be the one that's worried," the six-armed smirked, "You have no idea who you're messing with,"  
"Begone!" the woman made a motion with her hand, sending out a massive tidal wave of ki at the six-armed man. "Oh no!" Naruto eyes widened as he sensed impending doom coming straight toward him. Without even thinking, Naruto kicked Lee in his side, sending the unconscious boy over the end of the branch they were on and down to the ground far below. Naruto knew that it was better to let Lee get hurt from such a high fall than to let him get caught up in the incoming blast.  
With no time to dodge the incoming invisible projectile, Naruto crossed his forearms in front of his body in an attempt to shield his body. When he was struck, he was sent flying bodily backwards, flying right by the six-armed man. Lee escaped the incoming blast, the blast flying right over him as he fell down to the ground below.  
The six-armed man watched as Naruto went flying right by him, wondering what had hit him. When he turned his attention toward the woman, he didn't see the wave of incoming ki as if caught up to where he was standing. All he saw were trees toppling toward the side as the invisible projectile seemed to crush them as it traveled straight toward him. "What the?" was all the six-armed managed to say before he was struck from the front with devastating force, several bones in his body breaking from such an impact, as he was sent flying bodily backwards through the air, crashing through several trees in the process, more of his bones becoming broken in the process, before finally bouncing off one and falling down to the ground far below.  
The six-armed man didn't stand a chance against the woman, dead before his body had even hit the ground.  
The woman looked down toward the ground far below where the six-armed man lay there dead. She moved her attention off of the dead man and onto Naruto, the young boy having landed on the ground a short distance away from where the six-  
armed man had landed.  
Her eyes widened as she saw Naruto slowly getting back onto his feet. "Who is this boy and how is he able to keep getting back up?"

new stuff 6/26

Ton-Ton oinked a few times as Ranma neared the location where Naruto had last been seen.  
"He's probably around here somewhere," Ranma told Ton-Ton, "Don't worry about it. You made the right choice to run off and get me. So, tell me, do you have any idea what kinda special abilities this woman has? If this is the same woman I saw walking off earlier, I have a funny feeling she's very powerful,"  
Ton-Ton squeaked a few times.  
"You couldn't see what she was using against Naruto?" Ranma asked, "Hm, that sounds like some kinda ki-based attacks. Hm, things might get interesting. Heh, that brings back memories. The last person I fought that specialized in ki was this dude named Herb. If she's strong like Herb, things're definitely gonna get interesting,"  
Ranma glanced over his shoulder where he saw a far stretching wall of black flames. Seeing it impressed him quite a bit as he was able to sense the intensity of those flames.  
"Wow, I didn't know Itachi had that kinda stuff in him to generate stuff like that," Ranma commented, impressed.  
Realizing that he was wasting time being impressed with what he was seeing, Ranma quickly headed off toward the forest, believing he might be able to find Naruto somewhere in there. Even though Ranma knew he should stay behind and wait up for Itachi, he was confident that Itachi could take care of himself for a short while. Sure, Itachi would easily be overpowered should he stay and fight, but Itachi wasn't that stupid a person to attempt something like that. Ton-Ton snorted a few times.  
"Nah, I'm not that worried," Ranma said, "These Akatsuki members are pretty damn strong, but nothing I'm not unaccustomed to fighting against. I spar people ten times stronger than them on a daily basis, provided my sparring partner doesn't get himself REALLY lost,"  
Ton-Ton seemed confused by the comment.  
Ranma started making his way into the forest when he sensed a great quantity of power being released deep within the woods a short distance straight ahead from where he was. He looked up into the sky where he could see trees being blown upward into the sky before falling back down to the Earth.  
"Whoa, that's some heavy duty power we've got there," Ranma said, whistling, "That must be the girl's special ability,"  
Ton-Ton snorted.  
"I think she uses ki, or should I say chakra, since that's how the people of this world refer to it," Ranma answered, "Whatever kinda ki she generates, it seems to be invisible to the naked eye. Hm, I wonder if should even bother helping Naruto out at this rate,"  
Ton-Ton seemed confused at the comment.  
"If that's the way she fights, she's in trouble," Ranma said, smiling, feeling a bit relieved upon such a notion, "All that training Naruto has undergone basically makes him more than capable of handling such an opponent. Still, I better go and find him to make sure he's all right,"  
Ranma continued running on through the woods, hopping from branch to branch, eventually stopping as he came upon large crater, the same crater Naruto had seen not too long ago. The trees surrounding it had all been toppled over away from the crater.  
"Hm, I wonder what caused this," Ranma gently placed Ton-Ton down on the branch, scratching his chin.  
Looking down, Ranma saw a young boy lying motionless on the ground.  
"Hey, I recognize that kid," Ranma said in surprise, "That's that Lee kid I fixed up back at Hidden Leaf Village a while back. What the heck's he doing here?"  
Ranma quickly hopped off the branch and landed near where Lee lay. He crouched down by the young boy and felt for a pulse.  
Ton-Ton squeaked in concern.  
"No, he's okay," Ranma said, "He's got a pulse and doesn't seem to be having trouble breathing. He's got some bumps and bruises but nothing debilitating,"  
Ranma placed his hands on Lee's chest, pumping some of his own ki into the young boy to help give him some much needed energy. Ton-Ton watched in amazement as Ranma did this, completely unaware Ranma was capable of something like that in the first place.  
"Oh, don't get the wrong idea," Ranma said to Ton-Ton, "I ain't no medical expert. All I'm doing is giving him some ki to help give him back some of his energy and to lessen the pain he's feeling right now,"  
After a few moment, Lee slowly opened his eyes. He looked disoriented and unaware as to where he was. When he looked up and recognized Ranma, he seemed genuinely shocked.  
"Ranma-sama, what are you doing here?" Lee gasped in surprised, quickly sitting upright.  
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Ranma said, "I found you unconscious here,"  
Lee rubbed at his aching head, "I-I was fighting against someone, two people actually. I don't know who they were. One looked like man with six-arms and the other looked like this guy that was dressed almost like some woman,"  
"A man with six-arms and some kinda cross-dresser?" Ranma perked an eyebrow, "If who you're describing is who I think they are, it makes me wonder why they're here in the first place. Are you alone?"  
Lee shook his head, "I was with Neji and Shikamaru," He could be seen looking around and checking out his surroundings, "I don't seem to know where the two of them are though,"  
Ranma stood up, "Can you stand on your own?"  
Lee weakly stood up, wincing in pain as he body felt like it was on fire.  
"Man, you were in a battle?" Ranma smirked, "Dontcha know that you shouldn't really be fighting, at least not in your condition? Considering your body was all messed up, my helping you out back there at the florist shop isn't all that useful. That's because you need time to train to bring you body back up to the level it was at originally before you got injured,"  
Lee looked down at the ground dejectedly, "I know that. I found that out the hard way,"  
Lee had actually managed to put up a good fight before he was knocked out. The problem was that, as skilled a fighter as he was, he had been outnumbered, forced to fight two opponents at the same time. It wasn't until after Lee had been knocked out had Shikamaru managed to set off an explosive ward and take out the cross-dresser. That crater nearby had been the result of Shikamaru's actions. Unfortunately, Shikamaru had disappeared after the explosion, most likely having gotten himself knocked out when he was forced to set off the explosive ward at such a close proximity to himself so that it could effectively take out one of their three opponents.  
Neji been the only one that remained standing after the explosion, Lee having been knocked out before the explosion and Shikamaru nowhere to be found, most likely lying unconscious in a bush at the moment. Fortunately, one of the enemy were knocked out as well. Luckily for Neji, he only had two opponents to contend with when Naruto suddenly appeared, drawing the six-armed man's attention away.  
Ranma glanced toward the side where he saw the six-armed man as he lay motionless by a tree. Walking over there, Ranma didn't even need to inspect the man to know he was dead. The man's eyes were wide with surprise and his body lay broken on the ground. Ranma recognized the man, remembering him from his encounter with him during he time he and Naruto had gone out to retrieve Sasuke shortly after he had defected from Hidden Leaf Village.  
"Poor bastard," Ranma sighed, "Well, at least you didn't suffer before you died and your death was swift,"  
"I wonder what happened to him," Lee commented, "He looks like he was hit by something really hard and powerful,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Beats the hell outta me. I doubt this is Naruto's doing. I'll be damned if it is because I consider it a slap in the face if he uses the techniques I showed him to kill,"  
Ranma caught sight of a shadow dancing among the branches high above. Looking up, Ranma recognized the shadow as none other than Neji as Neji had been continuously running away, hoping to draw one away from the other so that he could fight against him or her alone without fear of being double teamed.  
"Hey, aren't you that Neji guy?" Ranma called out.  
Neji, hearing someone call out his named, looked down and caught sight of Ranma. For some odd reason, Neji couldn't help but feel a great wave of relief seeing Ranma. He quickly hopped off the branch he was on, softly landing on the ground right by where Ranma and Ton-Ton were. He glanced past Ranma at the battered body of the six-armed man, feeling much relieved as he realized that Ranma seemed to have evened the playing field.  
"Ranma!" Neji said, breathing heavily. "Yo," Ranma said with a quick wave.  
Neji remembered Ranma's name. Heck, he made sure he remembered Ranma's name. Ranma had his full respect, as much as Neji was reluctant to admit it. Neji would never forget the name of someone of Ranma's skill. Ranma had been the first person to show ungodly skill that even made Neji doubt whether or not he could ever attain such levels.  
He noticed Lee was now conscious, "Lee, you're all right," "Yes, thanks to Ranma," Lee smiled.  
"W-what are you doing here?" Neji asked Ranma, "Have you come to help us?" Ranma shrugged, "Um, okay, I guess. Whatcha need help with?" Even though he was there looking for Naruto so he could help Naruto out, Ranma couldn't walk away from someone if they were in need for help. "Them," Neji jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the individuals as they emerged from some nearby bushes. Ranma glanced past Neji at the two individuals.  
"You!" the young girl shouted as she instantly recognized Ranma, recalling the incident when he had grabbed her chest. Of course, she had misinterpreted the situation at the time. Ranma had wanted to end their fight peacefully and had struck at several sleep pressure points on her chest area and put her to sleep.  
"Me? What about me?" Ranma asked, point to himself.  
"What did you do?" Lee asked Ranma, "She looks really angry at you,"  
Ranma said, "I have no idea,"  
The young girl, in a fit of anger, reached into the folds of her pockets and threw several daggers at Ranma. Ranma tilted his head slightly to the side as the daggers missed him narrowly, casually catching one between his index and middle finger.  
"Boy, you look angry," Ranma said, looking at the dagger in his hands. He noticed that the girl didn't seem to have that great an aim with her daggers, believing that her special abilities lie in something else. He glanced at the young girl and noticed that she had a flute in one of her hands and was curious as to what it was for. He assumed that it probably had to do with her special abilities.  
After a moment, he glanced at the large man standing next to the young girl's side and recognized him as the large man Naruto had managed to barely defeat a little over a week ago.  
The large man, not caring about the new arrival, charged at him, intent on crashing through Ranma so he could get to Neji, who was standing behind Ranma, and seriously hurt him for inflicting some injuries on him. Neji had managed to cut the large man in a few places with well-thrown daggers during their pursuit of him.  
Ranma stood right where he was as the man charged straight toward him.  
Just as the man was about to shoulder tackle Ranma, Ranma slapped the guy in the side of the head, sending him flying bodily through the air where he crashed through several trees before bouncing off one and falling to the ground in a loud thud.  
"Oh shit, I think I hit him too hard," Ranma said in worry, "I'm too excited from fighting the Akatsuki to realize I need to tone it down a bit against opponents like that man that just went flying,"  
Ranma felt relieved when he noticed the large man slowly getting back to his feet, staggering back and forth several times, his knees threatening to buckle underneath him.  
"No hard feelings," Ranma shouted out toward the large man, "You didn't think I was just gonna stand perfectly still and letcha ram me, didja?"  
The large man could be seen staggering around, seemingly in a daze.  
"Hm, I think I did hit him too hard," Ranma said.  
After a moment of staggering around, the large man fell forward, landing flat on his face, unconscious.  
"Oh oh, it seems like I did," Ranma said in an apologetic voice.  
The young girl looked suddenly worried as she realized she was now alone. Glancing past Ranma, she caught sight of her six-armed brethren and noticed he was dead.  
"You fucks! You killed him!" she sneered at the group.  
"Hey, he was like that when we got here," Ranma raised his hands of innocently.  
Neji stepped forward from behind Ranma, "Thanks for your help, Ranma. I can handle this from here on,"  
"Um, okay," Ranma said with a quick shrug.  
Neji shouted out toward the young girl, "It's best that you run away now before it's too late. You're outnumbered,"  
The young girl could be seen glancing back and forth between her fallen comrades and her enemies. After a short moment, the young girl's resolve could be seen wavering as she came to grips that staying around and fighting would be a difficult battle, especially with Ranma around since he seemed to be overwhelmingly stronger than any opponent she had ever come across.  
"Well, it seems like I'm gonna hafta get serious now," the young girl sneered as she slowly brought her flute up to her lips and started to play an odd melody.  
"What's she up to?" Lee asked.  
Lee and Neji looked at one another for a moment.  
All of a sudden, a large cloud of smoke appeared behind the young girl, immediately disappearing four giant humanoid-looking creatures. They were massive in stature, looking to all be around eight feet tall. The creatures all opened their mouths as large worm-like ghosts emerged, floating around in the air right behind the young girl. The ghosts looked like giant worms with massive teeth and looked pretty gruesome and vicious.  
"This doesn't look good," Neji said, believing the young girl had somehow called in reinforcements.  
"We've got nothing to worry about," Lee said confidently, smiling, "We've got Ranma here to take care of them,"  
"Me?" Ranma said in surprise, "Those things look like ghosts! When the heck did I volunteer to fight ghosts?" After a moment, Ranma sighed, "Fine. Whatever. I'll go fight 'em,"  
He stepped forward from Neji and Lee, moving his shoulders around to loosen them up for the upcoming battle, "All right, let's see what these ghost thingies can do,"  
"Wow, Ranma's so cool, stepping out to fight them, just like that!" Lee said happily.  
"What, you think I'm doing this because I want to?" Ranma turned around to ask, "I'm doing this because I hafta. If you two wanna go fight whatever those things are, go right ahead,"  
"What the?" the young girl suddenly said in surprise, "I-I can't move,"  
Ranma and the others looked at the young girl, wondering what had just happened. After a moment, Neji realized what had happened.  
"Shikamaru, you're up and about," Neji said, smiling.  
From out of the shadows of the bushes behind the young girl emerged Shikamaru. As he walked, the young girl could be seen moving mirroring the young boy's movements.  
"What's going on?" Ranma asked, scratching his head.  
Shikamaru had a big grin on his face as he started flapping his arms around like a chicken. The young girl suddenly started flapping her arms like a chick around as well.  
"Oh! Now I get it!" Ranma said as he finally caught on to what was happening.  
Shikamaru had never been knocked out in that explosion he had caused. He had faked getting knocked out so that he could freely move about without anyone noticing him. When Shikamaru saw an opportunity to use his Shadow Bind Technique on the young girl, he seized the opportunity, capturing her shadow with his own when she was too distracted to realize he had snuck up behind her.  
Shikamaru did several silly moves as the young girl ended up mirror those moves as well, unable to stop her body from doing so.  
"You fuck! When I get outta this, you're as good as dead!" the young girl shouted, fuming. The ghosts simply hovered right by where she was standing, unmoving because she was unable to give out commands to them by use of playing the flute.  
"I don't this so," Neji started walking forward toward the young girl, "I'm going to enjoy knocking her out,"  
"C'mon, man, you don't need to do that," Ranma said, "Dontcha know you're not supposed to hit girls?"  
"Why should I show her mercy when I know she wouldn't have showed me mercy?" Neji said coldly.  
"I got it," Shikamaru said.  
"What do you intend to do?" Lee asked curiously.  
"This," Shikamaru said, grinning.  
Shikamaru started sprinting forward, the young girl sprinting forward as well, mirroring him. A loud thud could be heard as the young girl ended up running right into a tree, getting knocked out in the process.  
"Heh, even though my Shadow Bind Technique has it where we mirror each other's movements," Shikamaru smirked, looking at the unconscious girl nearby, "That doesn't mean I can't have you run straight ahead and into something from your point of view when there is no object in front of me from my point of view,"  
"That's pretty smart," Ranma smiled, impressed, "So, why are you kids out here? Aren't you a long way from home?"  
"We're on a mission," Lee said bluntly.  
"Speaking of which..." Neji cast Shikamaru a glance.  
"I don't know," Shikamaru answered, "I saw him take off North while being chased by this guy with these bone-like things jutting out of his skin,"  
"Who are you talking about? Naruto?" Ranma asked.  
Shikamaru shook his head, "No. Not him. Someone else,"  
He had been referring to Sasuke. Before chaos broke out, and they were forced to fight against those four fighters, a fifth person showed up, a young looking man with pale skin.  
The man seemed very unique because they witnessed him pulling out one of his own bones to use as a weapon as he took off after Sasuke when Sasuke made a break for it, leaving Shikamaru and the others behind to fend for themselves.  
"You're looking for Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, wanting to change the subject.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, it seems like he's in trouble,"  
"Well, we saw him not too long ago," Shikamaru said, "I saw him heading North and take off across the field. He was carrying...actually, I think he was carrying the pig you're carrying,"  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times, nodding.  
"What's going on here?" Shikamaru asked.  
Ranma scratched his head, "I dunno, but shit's really hitting the fan. Whoever you're looking for, you better be careful. There are Akatsuki members nearby. Actually, they're currently chasing after me,"  
"Akatsuki?" Neji asked, surprised, "The band of S-Class criminals?"  
He had heard stories about them and how dangerous they were.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. They're pissed at me and are actually chasing after me. Me and Itachi that is,"  
"Itachi? As in Itachi Uchiha?" Shikamaru asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Hm, I guess you know about him, huh?"  
"That's why Sasuke is here!" Lee shouted, snapping his fingers, "He found out about his brother's whereabouts and has come here to kill him!"  
Shikamaru sighed as he realized Lee had inadvertently revealed a vital aspect of their mission.  
"Hm, lemme guess, you're here to get Sasuke back?" Ranma chuckled, "What, did that kid defect yet again?"  
Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah, he did,"  
Although the mission was supposed to be classified, the cat was already out of the bag and there was nothing he could do. So long as it wasn't known that their actual mission was the assassination of Sasuke, everything would be fine.  
"Man, something's wrong with that kid," Ranma said, "His animosity toward his brother's gonna get him killed. What's sad is that Sasuke doesn't even know the real story behind everything,"  
"Whatcha talking about?" Shikamaru asked. "It's too complicated to explain," Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "All I know is that, as hard as it is to believe, Itachi has saved Sasuke's life without Sasuke knowing about it,"  
From out of the shadows emerged none other than Itachi.  
The three young boys regarded Itachi for a moment. None of them knew what he looked like so they had no idea if he was a friend or a foe of Ranma's. They had heard stories of him and had even heard that he had been in Hidden Leaf Village at one point not too long ago but they were unable to put a face to the name.  
"Speak of the devil," Ranma chuckled.  
"Bwee!" Ton-Ton snorted.  
"Don't worry, he's not THAT bad," Ranma assured Ton-Ton in a calm voice.  
"Sasuke?" Shikamaru looked at Itachi. Itachi looked like an older version and taller version of Sasuke so it was fairly easy to mistaken them.  
They regarded Itachi for a moment, noticing there was this cold and heartless aura to him.  
"This is Itachi," Ranma jerked at thumb toward the young man.  
"What?" all three boys shouted in unison.  
Neji instinctively got into a battle stance. Having heard stories that members of the Akatsuki Organization sometimes killed for pleasure, Neji didn't want to be one of those statistics.  
Itachi simply cast Neji an annoyed glance.  
Neji's body seemed to freeze as he sensed this menacing battle aura coming from Itachi. It was the aura of a natural killer, of a person that could probably kill him within a few moves should the two of them fight.  
"They're with me," Ranma told Itachi, "Relax,"  
Itachi continued to glare at Neji. After a moment, Neji turned his gaze away.  
"Hey, guess what?" Ranma said, "I just found out that your little brother is somewhere around here,"  
"What?" Itachi's eyes widened in genuine concern. "Yeah, it seems like he's somewhere around here," Ranma said, "The three of 'em here were chasing after him to take him back home. It seems like he defected from Hidden Leaf Village to come after you,"  
Shikamaru said nothing, figuring it was best to let Ranma believe that was the case. "How did he know I was here?" Itachi sneered, grabbing Ranma's shirt.  
Ranma didn't seem one bit intimidated, "Hey, don't look at me,"  
"Hmph!" Itachi released his hold of Ranma, almost shoving Ranma away in anger.  
"Where'd you last see him? Where'd you last see Sasuke?" Ranma asked Shikamaru.  
"Um, I'm not too sure," Shikamaru wondered if he should tell the truth. "You're lying," Itachi said in a cold, cold voice.  
Shikamaru was silent for a moment before saying, "I saw him taking off North of here. This guy who seemed to have this ability of taking bones out of his own body went chasing after him,"  
"What?" Itachi shouted, "He's heading North?"  
"Oh shit," Ranma stated, "If your little brother's heading North, he's gonna run right into the Akatsuki since they're chasing after us,"  
The temple was located at the Northern-most tip of Banishment Peninsula. When Ranma and Itachi made a break for it, they headed South, the Akatsuki chasing after them, eventually heading into the woods that surrounded the temple and stumbling upon Shikamaru and his team. If Sasuke had ran off North, most likely in the direction of where he thought his brother, Itachi, would be, he and the Akatsuki would end up crossing paths.  
Itachi turned Northward and started running off, "I have to go find him!"  
"Wait!" Ranma called out to Itachi, "I'll come with you,"  
Itachi didn't hear him, having already ran off on his own, heading straight in the direction of the pursuing Akatsuki members. By now, the wall of black flames had died off and they must have continued on with their chase.  
Ranma turned toward the three children, "I'm gonna go help Itachi out. Naruto's somewhere around here, go and find him and help him out. I know this stuff seems crazy and you don't understand what's really going on, but just trust me and do as I say,"  
Shikamaru nodded without hesitation, "Fine, we'll go find Naruto,"  
"Thanks," Ranma said before turning around and picking up Ton-Ton and running off, disappearing into the shadows of the woods.  
"We're supposed to go after Sasuke, not Naruto," Neji said coldly, "Why did you go and agree to do something like that?"  
"Because I said so," Shikamaru said seriously, "If I had a choice between finishing a mission or helping out a friend, then screw the mission. If Naruto's in trouble and needs our help, then we better go find him,"  
"Where are we going to go?" Lee asked, "We have no idea where Naruto could be,"  
"Neji and I will go look for him," Shikamaru said, "We'll fan out and look around. I'm sure we'll pick up on some clues as to his whereabouts. If any of us do, we'll meet up back here and relay you the information for the other,"  
"What about me?" Lee asked.  
Shikamaru said, "You're injured and need rest. We need you here, in case one of us do find out about Naruto's whereabouts. If one of us find out, we'll come back and tell you. That way, you can relay the information to the other when he comes back to check up,"  
"But I want to come and search," Lee said, ignoring the pain from all his injuries, "I'm fine,"  
Shikamaru shook his head, "No. Stay here. We need you here so that the other can relay the message. Your job is just as important as ours,"  
Lee sighed reluctantly, "Fine. I'll do it,"  
"Thanks," Shikamaru smiled, "I don't know what we'll be able to do without you,"  
Lee smiled, "It's no problem,"  
Neji smirked as he regarded Shikamaru. Shikamaru was quiet a person and definitely displayed remarkable leadership abilities.  
"C'mon, let's go," Shikamaru turned toward Neji.  
Shikamaru and Neji quickly split apart, disappearing into the woods.

The woman stood over Naruto as Naruto slowly tried to get back up to his feet. They were deep within the forest, far away from the temple, far away from anyone for that matter. Naruto had been running for quite a while, taking care to snap his dislocated finger back in its rightful place. Eventually, the woman caught up to him. By then, he had come up with a plan to fight back.  
Naruto coughed a few times, blood spewing from his mouth. His entire body ached and the world seemed like it was spinning around him. He felt angry with himself with being on the losing end of his fight against that woman.  
"You're one tenacious opponent," the woman said, wiping some blood flowing from her mouth with one hand while her other hand clutched at her injured ribs. Naruto had managed to hurt her considerably but not enough to defeat her. He had managed to almost catch her off guard with a ki-blast. His plan had consisted of creating clones of himself and having them hide while they gathered ki individually. When the time was right, they would all come out of hiding and give their gathered ki to Naruto so he would be able to shoot a ki-blast.  
The plan had almost worked had Naruto not already been hurt from the woman's previous fights. His body had been aching and it made aiming difficult. The ki-  
blast had struck her partially, only managing to hurt her instead.  
"Old hag!" Naruto spat as he tried to get back up to his feet, gritting his teeth in pain.  
He was suddenly hit with a massive wave of ki, sent spiraling backwards where he crashed against a nearby tree, falling down to his knees, gasping for air.  
"I must say," the woman smirked as she approached Naruto as Naruto slowly got back up to his feet, "Never have I ever encountered such an opponent like you before. Few have ever managed to get up from one of my attacks, let alone get up after more than a dozen attacks,"  
"That's because you're weak," Naruto taunted the woman, smirking, "Your first attack was very strong, but each attack after it gets weaker and weaker. It seems like you're running outta chakra at this rate,"  
"You annoying little punk!" the woman sneered. She winced in pain, clutching at her side as bolts of pain shot up her body.  
Naruto's body felt like it was on fire but he felt confident that he could continue to hold out. All those sparring sessions had made Naruto physically tough against impacts. Every time he was struck, he would think of the times when he sparred against Ranma and how much more it hurt then.  
Naruto knew the woman's patience was growing thin. He knew that if he continued to push her buttons, she would make a mistake and he would capitalize on it.  
Back on his feet, Naruto readied himself for yet another attack.  
The woman brought one of her arms back, ready to send out yet another wave of ki at the young boy but stopped when she caught sight of several daggers coming straight toward her out of the corner of her eye.  
She threw her arm in the direction of the incoming projectile, the wave of ki sending it flying away from her, sticking to several nearby trees.  
"Hm, it seems like one of your friends has come to help you out," the woman said, smirking.  
She gazed at the shadows from where the daggers had come and watched as a young boy stepped forward.  
Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized who the young boy was.  
"N-Neji?" Naruto said in surprise. He didn't expect to see Neji there, figuring he and Lee and Shikamaru were busy with whatever mission they were doing.  
"It seems like you're having trouble," Neji smirked, "I guess I showed up at the right time," "Get away from here!" Naruto shouted toward Neji in concern.  
The woman made a motion with her arm toward Neji as Neji got into a readied stance, veins forming around his eyes from using his Byakugan ability, ready to see and react to whatever attack the woman intended to use on him. Unfortunately for Neji, his Byakugan didn't help him detect the attack until it was too late. He found himself looking down at the ground as it suddenly exploded upward, sending rocks and debris straight toward him, sending the young skyward where he crashed against the bottom of a branched before falling back down, barely landing on his feet, his face and arms covered in cuts and bruises.  
"Ugh!" Neji said, falling down to his knees, blood trickling from his mouth. He couldn't believe how quickly the tides of battle had turned in her favor so quickly. He didn't even see the attack, let alone react to it.  
"It seems like you bit off more than you can chew," the woman smirked, walking toward Neji.  
Neji slowly tried getting back onto his feet, his knees weak and buckling slightly.  
"Get away from him!" Naruto shouted at the woman, "He has nothing to do with our fight!"  
"On the contrary," the woman said, making a motion with an arm, "Had he left well enough alone and minded his own business, I would have left him alone,"  
Neji's eyes widened as he suddenly found himself unable to breath, an invisible force closing around his neck, as he found himself being lifted off the ground. His legs could be seen thrashing back and forth as he gripped at the tangible but invisible force chocking him.  
Naruto, blind with rage, charged at the woman.  
"Let go of him!"

new stuff 7/02

The woman made motion with her arms toward Naruto, sending the young boy flying bodily away from her as if he had been hit with a massive gust of wind. He ended up twisting in the air and pointing his front toward a tree, using his hands and legs to shoved himself at the very last moment before hitting into a tree.  
Naruto tumbled on the ground a good thirty meters before sliding into a tree and coming to a halt.  
Neji, whom had been watching all this unfold, had a look of shock as he watched Naruto slowly get back up to his feet. No one should be able to get up from such an impact.  
Naruto staggered a few times, shocked at himself at being able to get back to his feet.  
"Jeez, what the hell am I?" Naruto had to ask himself. He was perhaps more surprised than anyone else at his own resilience. He should have long been knocked out. It didn't make sense how he could continue getting up, especially when there had been times he had been easily knocked out before, like the time he had been caught within a close proximity to that ki-blast Itachi threw at Ranma.  
Little did Naruto realize that the fact that Ranma had specifically trained him to withstand devastating attacks, so long as he ready for such attacks. "You goddamn little punk!" the woman sneered, anger starting to creep upon her visage, "Why won't you stay down?"  
The woman found herself seriously wanting to go full strength against Naruto. Because she was worried about actually killing him, what with her not knowing what would happen to the Nine-Tails should that happen, the woman had held back. But the more and more times Naruto got back up, the more she grew frustrated. With another wave of the hand, she sent Naruto flying bodily through the air, crashing through several bushes where he disappeared into the shadows of the woods.  
How the hell am I supposed to fight against someone like this, Naruto thought. She no longer resorts to using that chakra of hers to grab me so I can draw it in. If she detects any of my clones, she'll just do that damn area whirlwind attack or whatever it is to get rid of 'em since she knows that I'm trying to use 'em to draw in chakra to give them all to myself.  
The woman turned her attention toward Neji, slowly approaching him as he continued to hover in the air, held in place by her ki.  
"Who the hell are you?" Neji shouted at the woman.  
"Who I am is of no concern to you," the woman answered, "What you should be worried about is what I decide to do with you,"  
The woman flicked a hand toward Neji, sending the young boy flying bodily through the air where he twisted in the air and landed on his feet a short distance away, sliding along the ground to a halt, his gaze intent on her.  
"Fighting against someone like you isn't even worth my time. Walk away, boy, if you know what's good for you," the woman said in a serious voice, "If you leave now, you'll live,"  
Neji looked hesitant for a moment, as if he had realized he was definitely going to die fighting against an opponent like her. Never in his life had he come across and opponent so overwhelmingly strong. Heck, from what Neji had witnessed so far, she might even be stronger than Ranma.  
"Well, what are you waiting for? Run away," the woman said, "This is your last warning,"  
"No, I can't do that," Neji said after taking a deep breath, "I'm not going to let Naruto fight against you alone-"  
Neji's sentence was cut off as and invisible force struck him from below, sending him, once again, flying bodily upwards where he struck the underside of a branch before he was sent rocketing downward and into ground. The landing was a hard one, a couple of Neji's ribs breaking from the impact. Neji had been unable to land on his feet, unable to move his body for he had been held taut by the invisible force like some giant hand.  
"Ugh," Neji groaned in pain, the wind knocked out of him. He found himself seriously hurt and barely able to get back up to his feet. The though of how Naruto had managed to get up again and again after taking more devastating attacks than the one he himself had sustained was beyond Neji's understanding.  
Neji staggered a few steps as his legs threatened to buckle out from under him. He cast a glance toward the side where he saw Naruto, looking a lot less beaten up, emerge from the bushes.  
"Neji!" Naruto said, ignoring the pain in his body as he rushed over his Neji, "Are you okay- Look out!"  
Neji didn't get a chance to respond to Naruto's question before he was violently shoved out of the way by Naruto. As Neji fell backwards, he watched as Naruto was magically thrown upward into the sky where he crashed through the same branch he himself had hit against before, disappearing beyond the shadows of the trees high above.  
Neji was forced to dive out of the way as the large broken tree branch fell down right where he was a second ago.  
Rolling to his feet, Neji clutched his ribs, finding it very hard to breath. He turned his attention toward the woman as she slowly approached him from a short distance away. Her gaze was toward the sky where she had sent Naruto flying.  
The woman said in an icy cold voice, "This is not your fight. You have no idea who you're dealing with. Walk away, boy, while you still can,"  
Neji smirked, wiping the blood from his lips, "You know I can't do that. I'm not running away,"  
At this point in time, Neji knew he was going to die fighting this woman, whoever she was. Rather than run away and live on with the guilt of abandoning a comrade in battle, he would much rather die fighting in blazing glory.  
The woman laughed, "You really have a death wish, don't you?"  
Neji said nothing.  
"Very well, so be it," the woman said, cocking an arm back, ready to release a massive wave of ki at Neji, intent on killing him.  
Neji braced himself for what was going to come next, ready to die. But the attack didn't come for the woman quickly twirled around, swinging her arm in a direction right behind her.  
Her fist clenched at the air behind her where she then swung her arm around and pointed it toward the ground. Neji watched with wide eyes as he saw Shikamaru and Lee suddenly shoot out from the bushes behind the woman, flying through the air, their arms and legs flailing all the while, in a wide arc where they came crashing down on the ground right by his feet.  
"Don't you know it's not nice to sneak up on someone?" the woman said.  
Neji looked down at Shikamaru and Lee and noticed that the both of them were unconscious. They had been caught completely off guard, believing the woman had been completely unaware of their presence. They had both been in hiding, waiting for the brief window of time when the woman was open to attack her from behind. Unfortunately, they didn't anticipate that the woman was able to detect their presence.  
"Foolish kids, thinking they could sneak up on me," the woman said.  
Neji's lips were a thin line. "Ahhhh!" came a voice from above.  
Neji and the woman both looked skyward where they saw Naruto falling straight down from above, a dagger held tightly in one hand, ready to plunge it right into the top of the woman's head.  
The woman waved a hand skyward, sending Naruto flying away from her before he could attack her from above, sending his crashing into a nearby tree. He struck the tree with such force that the tree toppled over. A second later, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.  
"A clone," Neji said.  
To Neji's surprise, but to the woman's annoyance, there was a second Naruto falling down right behind the one just blown away.  
"Nice try, using a clone as a shield," the woman laughed as she waved a hand again, sending the real Naruto flying away from her where he crashed against a tree right by where Neji was standing.  
Naruto crashed against the tree where he fell down to the ground, unmoving.  
The woman made a motion toward Naruto, Naruto lifelessly being lifted off the ground. Neji reached out for Naruto in an attempt to pull him down but was unable to, his broken ribs preventing him from making any sharp movement.  
"Let him go!" Neji shouted.  
The woman smirked, "Well, it seems like you've finally been knocked out. It's about time,"  
She motioned for the unconscious Naruto to hover over to where she was standing but stopped when Naruto suddenly exploded in a cloud of smoke.  
"That's what you think!" came a voice from behind the woman.  
"What-" the woman quickly turned around.  
The woman's eyes widened in surprise as she saw an orange blur flying straight toward her. She tried to raise her hand to generate a protective shield around herself but was unable to as she suddenly found her arms pinned by her sides.  
Neji was shocked when he found himself watching Naruto as he had his arms and legs wrapped around the woman. It only took a moment for her to realize what had happened. The first clone the woman blew away wasn't a clone at all. Naruto had made it seem like the first was a clone while the second one was the real one. He had let himself get hit as a ruse to throw the woman off and making her believe that he had been the clone. During that time, Naruto snuck up behind her.  
"Let's see what you can do without using your arms!" Naruto smirked. His face was bloody but there was a strong look of determination on his visage, as if he was ready to continue on fighting for quite a while.  
"Let go of me!" the woman shouted in annoyance.  
"Neji! Attack her! While she can't use her arm!" Naruto shouted.  
Neji reached into the folds of his outfit for a dagger but realize, with much dread, that he had run out. Luckily, he realized that Shikamaru was nearby and quickly searched through him for a dagger, eventually producing one.  
Without hesitation, Neji threw the dagger straight toward the woman's back, aiming for her spine, intent on having it severing her spinal cord in the process.  
"Nice try, kid," the woman said with a smirk.  
Using brute strength that probably rivaled Tsunade's own brute strength, the woman forcibly overpowered Naruto's hold, reaching a hand out and grabbing him by the neck before twirling him around and point his back toward the incoming projectile, where he ended up getting struck in the right shoulder blade.  
"Ahhh!" Naruto shouted in pain as the woman threw Naruto over her shoulder like a rag doll.  
Naruto landed on the ground where he could be seen rolling around as he tried to reach around to pull the dagger out of his back. For the first time since he started fighting against the woman, Naruto finally found himself in agonizing pain.  
"It hurts! It hurts! Get it out! Get it out!"

Ranma and Itachi jumped from tree branch to tree branch as they headed in the direction of the temple.  
"I hope we find your brother first," Ranma stated, "Things've gotten complicated enough as it already is. It'll be even worst if they get him first and use him as a hostage,"  
Itachi sneered at Ranma, "You don't have to remind me that. It has crossed my mind already,"  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times.  
Ranma turned toward Ton-Ton, as he held the pig on his back, "You picked up on his scent? Good. Where is he?  
"What?" Itachi asked, "The pig picked up on my little brother's scent?"  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, stopping for a moment. He placed Ton-Ton down on the branch where the pig could be seen sniffing at the ground.  
Itachi looked very impatient as he watched the pig slowly sniffing around. When they made a brief moment of eye contact, Itachi glared at it to let it know that he wanted it to work harder and faster.  
"Hey, leave Ton-Ton alone," Ranma came to the pig's defense, "If you wanna go look for your brother without Ton-Ton, go right ahead," Itachi snorted in annoyance.  
Ranma snickered at Ton-Ton, "Heh, with that awesome snout of yours, it seems like you hold all cards now, huh?"  
Ton-Ton snorted happily.  
"Hopefully, this is Sasuke's scent you picked up on and not some truffles," Ranma chuckled.  
"Will you quit conversing?" Itachi shouted at Ranma, "Now is not the time!"  
Ranma shrugged, "Fine. Fine,"  
Itachi impatiently watched as Ton-Ton sniffed at the branch. After a moment, it snorted toward Ranma.  
"What did the pig tell you?" Itachi asked.  
"The pig has a name, y'know," Ranma said, "It's Ton-Ton,"  
Itachi ignored the comment.  
Ton-Ton snorted toward Ranma again.  
"You wanna go down to the ground? Okay," Ranma said.  
He then went on to pick Ton-Ton up and hopped off the branch they were on. Landing on the ground below, Ranma placed Ton-Ton down where it began sniffing furiously at the ground. Itachi landed right next to Ranma, his gaze intent on the roaming pig.  
"Trying to glare daggers don't help Ton-Ton much, y'know," Ranma stated, "If you keep staring, you'll most likely make Ton-Ton nervous and make it counter productive,"  
Itachi said turned around and started walking away, "I don't have time for this. I'll go off on my own,"  
Ranma shrugged, "Okay. See ya. It's your funeral," He waved ostentatiously waved goodbye at Itachi's back, "Good luck,"  
Itachi let out an annoyed breath before quickly headed off North, disappearing into the shadows of the forest.  
"Kids," Ranma said, "They're so impatient nowadays. I find it rather amusing how people don't seem to bother following my lead considering all the crap I've been through and managed to overcome. I guess experience means nothing to people nowadays,"  
Ranma watched as Ton-Ton continued to sniff at the ground. After about a minute, Ton-Ton snorted toward Ranma as it pointed its snot southward.  
"Really? In that direction?" Ranma pointed, a bit surprised, "Hm, I guess we must've passed Sasuke along the way. That means we don't really hafta worry about him bumping into the Akatsuki so long as he doesn't get past us,"  
Ton-Ton snorted.  
"Screw him," Ranma shrugged, "It's Itachi's fault for running off. I'm too old for this crap,"  
Ton-Ton snorted again.  
Ranma sighed, "Fine. I'll go after him. Jeez, I can't believe this crap. Why didn't Itachi just wait for one whole goddamn minute? Nooooo, he just HAD to go. Now I hafta go save is ass. How come things always turned out like this? Stay here. I'll go after him. I'm sure there're truffles around here to keep you busy. I'll be back for you later,"  
Ton-Ton snorted again to get Ranma's attention before Ranma had a chance to run off on his own.  
"What is it?" he asked, watching Ton-Ton snort the ground again before snorting toward Ranma, "Who's scent did you pick up?"  
Ton-Ton snorted in answer.  
"Orochimaru? Why the heck's he here?"

new stuff 7/18

Sasuke twisted in mid-flight as he flew across the air between branches, throwing several daggers toward his opponent. To his dismay, his opponent, dodged the projectiles with ease.  
Who the hell is this guy, Sasuke thought.  
Chasing after Sasuke was an opponent unlike anything Sasuke had ever seen before. He looked like a young man with massive bone-like protrusions jutting of many parts of his body. In his hand he held a sword that looked like that of a human spine, the man having ripped out his own spine to do so. The young man possessed incredible speed, Sasuke having to push his Sharingan ability to its limit to dodge most of his attacks.  
Little did Sasuke know that the opponent chasing him was Kimimaru, one of Orochimaru's most powerful and loyal subordinates.  
"It's useless running!" Kimimaru called out, "You've got nowhere to run! Orochimaru-sama has big plans for you and you're coming back with me whether you like it or not!"  
"I don't have time for this!" Sasuke shouted back, "Leave me alone! Go tell Orochimaru I don't want his help anymore!"  
Kimimaru laughed, "And what makes you think Orochimaru-sama ever had intentions of 'helping' you? You and I're nothing but a pawns to him, and I intend to carry out my task and bring you to him!"  
Kimimaru shot several bone-like projectiles from his fingertips, missing Sasuke by mere inches had he not ducked behind a tree for cover.  
After a moment, Sasuke stepped out from behind a tree, a look of annoyance on his face.  
Realizing that he needed to take this person out before he can go after his brother, Sasuke turned toward his opponent, intent on fighting, "If you don't leave me alone, I'm going to kill you!" Kimimaru smile as he regarded Sasuke. Half of Sasuke's face and body was covered with black markings, Sasuke subconsciously tapping into the power of his cursed seal and using it make his words all the more threatening. "Go ahead, try and use the cursed seal against me," Kimimaru laughed, "Better yet, continue doing so. It'll make it all the easier for Orochimaru to take over your body when the time comes,"  
"Che," Sasuke spat as he consciously willed the cursed seal into a dormant state.  
Sasuke was aware of the cursed seal, Tsunade having mentioned it to him. He had found out the cursed seal's true purpose. The cursed seal gave incredible power to the one cursed with such a seal, but at a cost of his or her soul. If he relied on using the cursed seal too much, he would lose complete control over his body, allowing Orochimaru the opportunity to take over it and assume the body as his own. The hard part about not relying on the cursed seal was the fact that the cursed seal gave Sasuke a massive boost of power and it was very hard to give up relying on such a crutch.  
So long as Sasuke didn't rely on the use of the cursed seal, Orochimaru will not be able to take over his body. Unfortunately, it was hard for someone like the power-hungry Sasuke to not rely on such a readily accessible reserve of power.  
"It's useless to fight against me," Kimimaru said, waving an arm around as a large bone shot out from his forearm like a giant blade, "Even with your cursed seal, you're outmatched,"  
"Not if I have something to do about it," came a voice.  
Kimimaru and Sasuke turned in the direction of the voice. From out of the shadows emerged Ranma as he could be seen walking along a branch and toward the two of them. Tucked under one of his arms was Ton-Ton as the pig seemed to glare at Kimimaru.  
"R-Ranma," Sasuke looked very surprised. "Fancy meeting you here, huh?" Ranma grinned, "Small world, I guess,"  
The young man regarded Ranma, trying to assess him. Ranma gave off no indication that he was a formidable opponent, but then again, he gave off no indication that he was a weak opponent either. There was a way that Ranma carried himself that made Kimimaru wonder just how powerful this newcomer was.  
After a moment, Kimimaru said, "It's best you walk away. This doesn't concern you, whoever you are,"  
Ranma turned toward the young man, Ton-Ton still tucked under his arm, "Sorry, but I can't do that,"  
"Bweee!" Ton-Ton snorted.  
Ranma turned around and noticed that Sasuke was no longer there. Sasuke had used Ranma's sudden appearance as an opportunity to run away. Afterall, Sasuke only had one goal and that was to kill his brother. Everything else was trivial to him, even Ranma's own sudden appearance.  
"Why that snot-nosed brat!" Ranma muttered, "He goddamn ran away!"  
He shrugged after a moment and looked at Ton-Ton, "I don't hafta worry, right? You can pick up on him after I'm through with this guy, right?"  
Ton-Ton nodded.  
Ranma turned toward Kimimaru.  
"Go away," Ranma made a shooing motion with his free hand, "Shoo. Shoo. I dunno why you were chasing after Sasuke or why you need to fetch him for Orochimaru, but whatever it is, I'm sure it's for no good, so therefore, I can't sit around and let you do whatever you were doing,"  
The young man smiled, pointing his spine-like sword toward Ranma, "So be it. I guess I'll just have to go through you to get to Sasuke,"  
"Ew! Is that some kinda spine?" Ranma's eyes widened, "What the hell kinda weapon is that? I've seen some weird stuff on this world before, but never've I seen something like that before,"  
The young man jammed several fingers into his own chest and ripped out one of his ribs, the ribs mysteriously taking shape to form a bone-like dagger. Ranma said nothing, a bit creeped out after what he had just seen. Even Ranma, a person who had basically seen everything, couldn't help but feel a bit weirded out at the sight of a person pulling out his own bones. It made him think of the times he had dislocated his shoulder and had to pop it back in. It hurt like Hell and it made him wonder how much more painful it would be to rip out one's own ribs.  
"Bweee!" came Ton-Ton's snort, snapping Ranma out of his reverie.  
Ranma turned his gaze forward toward the young man as the guy lunged off his branch and straight toward Ranma, intent on slicing him in half.  
Without batting an eye, Ranma took a step backwards and off the branch as the young man's spine-like sword missed cutting him in half and cutting right through the branch upon where he had been perched.  
Landing on the ground below, Ranma hopped backwards as the falling branch barely missed him. He then looked upward where he saw the young man propel himself off the side of a tree and straight down toward him, sword and dagger ready to attack.  
Ranma simply stepped backwards as the young man missed slicing him in half yet again, cutting into the ground like a hot knife through butter. As Ranma was stepping backwards, the young man threw his rib-dagger at Ranma to which Ranma easily dodged using a minimal amount of movement.  
After a good minute of dodging, Ranma grew tired of dodging and figured it was best to end the battle swiftly. When the young man made a wide slash at Ranma out of sheer frustration of being unable to hit him, Ranma stepped forward and under the spine-like sword as it sailed right over his head.  
While still holding Ton-Ton, Ranma used his free hand to land an open hand palm strike right in the man's chest, sending him flying bodily backwards where he crashed through several trees before coming to a sliding halt a good fifty feet away from where Ranma was standing. Ranma's gaze remained on Kimimaru's unconscious form for several moments before he turned around and started walking away. He didn't need to walk over to where Kimimaru lay to know he was unconscious.  
As Ranma walked away, he turned toward Ton-Ton as he continued to hold the pig under one arm.  
"C'mon, let's go find Sasuke before he really complicates things,"

Sasuke peered out from the treetop toward the open field in front of him. Due to the lack of light, Sasuke had trouble determining who was who. He didn't recognize anyone in the group and because Itachi's back was toward him, he was unable to see nor recognize his brother.  
He decided it was best to hang back and observe. For all he knew, the group before him might be with Orochimaru and he definitely didn't want to deal with anymore of them if they were strong like that opponent with those bone-like weapons.  
He felt very lucky that Ranma showed up when he did. It must have been a stroke of luck. "There you are!" came a voice.  
Sasuke quickly turned around and found himself looking up at Ranma as Ranma was walking along the branch toward him, Ton-Ton tucked under and arm.  
"R-Ranma!" Sasuke was surprised to see him so suddenly, "What happened to-"  
"The bone guy? What do you think?" Ranma grinned.  
Sasuke assumed that Ranma had somehow defeated him. This seemed a bit surprising because it meant Ranma must have taken his opponent out within a few seconds to be able to catch up in such a short time.  
Ranma glanced out toward the group of people, "Ah, there he is,"  
"Who?" Sasuke asked curiously.  
"Your brother, Itachi," Ranma answered.  
"He's there?" Sasuke suddenly became enraged. It was as if all those years of hatred started rushing out of the young boy.  
Ranma reached out and grabbed the young boy by the shoulder before he had a chance to make a break for it, "Oh no you don't!"  
"Unhand me!" Sasuke sneered, instinctively reaching into one of his pockets and produce a dagger, bringing it up against Ranma's throat to prove how serious he was.  
Ranma looked down at the dagger by his neck and then back at Sasuke, "You honestly think that's gonna scare me? Gimme that!"  
With blinding speed, Ranma let go of Sasuke's shoulder and the young boy's hand as it held the dagger, holding it fast. Sasuke could be seen trying to pull his arm away from Ranma's tight grip, much to no avail.  
"First off, before you do anything rash, take a minute to hear me out," Ranma stated, "I know about you and what you've been through, but you need to take a moment to calm down,"  
Sasuke looked like he was ready to spew out acid at Ranma if he could, "You know nothing about me!"  
"You goddamn punk!" Ranma said angrily, twisting Sasuke's arm at an awkward angle, "Dontcha understand I'm trying to goddamn help you?"  
"I don't need your help!" Sasuke sneered.  
Ranma slapped Sasuke across the cheek.  
"Yeah, I bitch slapped ya," Ranma said, "You're acting like a little bitch so I figure something like that should knock some sense into ya. I'll do it again if I hafta,"  
Sasuke seemed to be in a state of shock as he pressed a hand against his cheek. That slap hurt like hell and felt as if it jostled his brain within his skull.  
"Your brother is not the cold heartless murderer of your parents that you believe he is," Ranma started.  
"I don't know how you know about my past or such, but it just goes to show you how little you know about me and my life," Sasuke snapped, "I was there in person when he killed my mom and dad. I saw the look on my parents' faces the moment he killed them,"  
"So?" Ranma shrugged, "Big deal,"  
"What?" Sasuke suddenly became infuriate with Ranma, "How dare you!"  
"Goddamn! You're more irrational than some of the women I've met in my life!" Ranma said, letting go of Sasuke, "Is your mind so damn clouded with this 'so-  
called' hatred of your brother that you can't see beyond your yearning for revenge?"  
"And what do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked. While he had been tempted to make a break for it since Ranma had let go of him, but his words made him curious.  
"Your brother isn't the kinda of cold-hearted murderer that you believe him to be," Ranma said, "Okay, maybe I said that wrong. Your brother is a cold-hearted murdered, but that's due to certain circumstances,"  
Sasuke seemed confused, believing Ranma to be spouting gibberish.  
"He's not a bad person," Ranma said, "Your brother actually cares a lot for you, much more than you could possibly believe. There are a lot of bad people in the world, but your brother is not one of them,"  
"Lies," Sasuke sneered.  
Ranma was about to say something but suddenly stopped, turning his attention elsewhere, toward the darkness of the woods behind them. "We've got company," Ranma stated.  
The tree branch they were on was so large and long that they couldn't see the end of it that was attached to a tree. Ranma glanced down toward the end of the branch where he saw three snake heads shooting out from the darkness and straight toward the two of them. "Whoa," Ranma said in surprise as the three snakes wrapped themselves around the surprised Sasuke.  
Reacting quickly, Ranma slapped the heads of the three snakes' heads which seemed to cause the snake to uncoil themselves from Sasuke and retract back into the darkness from where they came.  
"You okay?" Ranma asked Sasuke.  
Sasuke inspected himself for a moment, to see if he was all right before saying, "Yeah, I think so. T-thanks,"  
He watched as Ranma stepped toward the side, bringing himself between Sasuke and the darkness from where those snakes had come. The young boy couldn't help but be truly impressed at how strong Ranma was. Whatever had happened a second ago, Ranma had been not only been able to assess the situation at hand but also react to it confidently and correctly. Skill like that could only be acquired through decades of hard training.  
"You're as good as I've heard," came a voice Ranma didn't recognize.  
Ranma narrowed his eyes toward the individual as he emerged from the darkness. The man had long dark hair and pale skin and yellow snake-like pupils. It took a moment before he recognized the man.  
"Bweee! Bwee! Bwee!" Ton-Ton started snorting wildly in the direction of the dark haired man.  
"Lemme guess...Orochimaru, huh?" Ranma asked. They had never formally met, but he recognized the man from his battle against the Hokage as well as heard quite a bit about him.  
"Look, you're kinda butting in at bad time right now," Ranma said, "Why dontcha just run along and be on your merry way. From my initial impressions of you, what with the fact that you were the cause of the death of the Hokage, an overall nice guy from what figure, I don't like you and don't wanna deal with you,"  
Orochimaru seemed mildly amused at the comment but knew to not press his luck. He had heard stories of what Ranma was capable of and knew that he should not get on Ranma's bad side. The fact that Ranma basically single-handedly defeated Shuukaku, meant he was not someone to be trifled with. He contemplated taking over Ranma's body and assuming his body for his own but knew that that would be impossible. Heck, Orochimaru even got goosebumps at the thought of just how powerful he could become should he ever succeed in taking over Ranma's body but knew that that would never happen. He wouldn't stand a chance. Perhaps if he took over Sasuke's body and then went after Ranma, perhaps he had a slim chance then. "I'll leave you be. I have no intention of bothering you. All I want is Sasuke there," Orochimaru said after a moment.  
Ranma said, "Actually, how about we do something else? How about you just turn around and leave?"  
"I can't do that," Orochimaru answered. Deep down inside, he felt a sense of dread. Here he was, alone, and face-to-face with Ranma, the one person he did not want to cross paths with.  
Ranma sighed, "How come things always end up like this?"  
He glanced toward Sasuke, hoping for some input.  
"I assume you don't want to go with him, right?" Ranma asked the young boy.  
Sasuke didn't even need to answer for Ranma to know Sasuke definitely didn't want to go with Orochimaru.  
"Long story short," Ranma didn't want to dally around, "I've tried being diplomatic with several people before and have found it to be useless. Frankly, I'm in no mood to be diplomatic anymore. I find myself having more and more trouble holding back my growing annoyance with everyone I come in contact with. If you don't wanna be the first unfortunate person to actually hafta deal with me when I'm in a bad mood, I seriously suggest you leave, right now,"  
Orochimaru could be seen deep in thought, as if assessing his chances with fighting head-to-head against someone of Ranma's abilities. If he felt very doubtful of his chances in winning, Orochimaru sure hid it well.  
"Well, it seems like we are going to have some trouble here," Orochimaru said after a moment.  
Ranma sighed, "Fine. Whatever. Let's just fight and get this over with,"  
He extended a hand forward toward Orochimaru, intent on ending it quickly with a well aimed ki-blast. A ki-blast to the area in front of Orochimaru would easily send the man flying away and out of Ranma's hair for a short while. Before Ranma had a chance to take the initiative, Orochimaru was already in the middle of performing several hand seals before finally pressing both of his palms together.  
"Kuchiyose Edo Tensei!" Orochimaru shouted just as a ki-blast shot forward from Ranma's extended hand.  
Before the ki-blast struck the area of the branch in front of Orochimaru, a large coffin-like structure shot upward from the floor of the branch to protect Orochimaru from the blast.  
Ranma found himself shielding his eyes from the blast as a large explosion occurred as it engulfed Orochimaru's nearby area.  
"What an odd looking shield," Ranma said to himself as he stared straight ahead and toward the coffin-like structure. The branch around the coffin as well as the coffin itself were charred from the explosion.  
From behind the coffin emerged Orochimaru. He had a smirk on his lips.  
"It seems like you were right," Orochimaru stated, "You're one not to be trifled with,"  
"This is your last chance to walk away," Ranma said in a cold voice.  
"Bweee!" Ton-Ton snorted, trying to get Ranma's attention.  
"Not right now, Ton-Ton," Ranma dismissed the pig.  
"Very well," Orochimaru smirked wryly at Ranma, "I'll leave you be. Afterall, why should I deal with you when I can have someone else do it for me,"  
Ranma wondered what Orochimaru meant by that. All of a sudden, the front of the coffin-like structure fell forward to reveal someone inside. After a moment, a young looking man with spiked blond hair emerged from the coffin, stepping forward and out of the shadow of the coffin where Ranma could get a better look at him.  
"What the fuck?" Ranma was surprised at what he was seeing. He recognized that young man from the statue of painting of the Forth Hokage he remembered Tsunade explaining to him. He looked exactly like the painting save for the soulless eyes. Tsunade had explained to Ranma that the Forth Hokage was none other than Naruto's father and had lost his life sealing Nine-Tails within his newborn son.  
"It seems like you recognize the Forth Hokage," Orochimaru smirked after seeing Ranma's reaction.  
"How's that possible? I thought he was dead," Ranma stated.  
Orochimaru smirked, "Yes, he is...or should I say, was. I guess you're not familiar with the forbidden technique of resurrections,"  
Ranma's lips became a thin line as he suddenly found himself filled with great animosity toward Orochimaru. Resurrection was a pet peeve of Ranma's and he disliked anyone that would use resurrections in any form whatsoever. "Bwee!" came Ton-Ton's snort again.  
"What is it?" Ranma asked, "Can't you see that I'm busy?"  
Ranma looked over his shoulder where he only saw Ton-Ton. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, having taken off while Ranma was once again distracted.  
"Goddamn! He ran off again!" Ranma spat angrily.  
"I must be on my way now," Orochimaru smirked, "While I go after Sasuke, I'll leave you and the Forth to deal with one another,"  
With that said, Orochimaru leapt off the branch and onto another branch before jumping off and disappearing into the darkness. Ranma turned around to chase after Orochimaru, knowing full well that it would not be long before Orochimaru caught up with Sasuke unless he did something to prevent it. However, he was forced to stop his pursuit when several daggers narrowly missed hitting him in the head had he not stopped to dodge in time.  
He turned his attention toward the spiky haired young man that threw those daggers, impressed with the young man's accuracy for almost managing to hit him from such a distance.  
Ranma looked at his new opponent. He had no idea who this person was or if he was indeed the reincarnation of the Forth Hokage. However, just from looking at the young man, Ranma knew that the young man was extremely powerful, more powerful than anyone he had come in direct contact with so far.  
The young man had cold, soulless eyes and had an aura of killing intent surrounding him.  
Ranma smirked, already knowing the answer to his question.  
"Lemme guess, a fight against you is unavoidable, huh?"  
A long long time ago, Itachi's life used to be much simpler. He was happy with his life, with who he was, with who he would eventually become. He was expected to take over as the leader of the Uchiha Clan when he grew older. He knew that he would one day take over but had no real idea. It didn't matter because his father was a great man who didn't pressure him to train his absolute hardest. Itachi simply enjoyed training and making his father proud of him.  
Unfortunately for him, his life was changed completely on one fateful night.  
Itachi had a smile on his face as he raced back home as fast as his small legs could take him. In his hands was his report card for the academy. The report card displayed that not only was he the top in his class for each and every subject, but the top student in the entire school. With over a two hundred students enrolled at the academy, that was something to be very proud of.  
"They're going to be so proud," Itachi smiled happily as he ran down the street toward his home that night.  
Although it was late at night and young children shouldn't be out at that time of night, Itachi had nothing to worry about. He had no curfew and was more than capable of taking care of himself despite his young age. On most night, Itachi didn't get home until well after ten at night. However, tonight was a special night and he wanted to be home early, to show his parents his report card. Most of the time, Itachi spent his after-school time at the academy training for several hours, furthering himself. But today, when he got his report card, he found himself unable to remain steadfast in his training, wanting to cut today's training short to be home early, to hear the praise that his mother and father would give him for a job well done.  
Entering the Uchiha estate via the front gate, Itachi made his way into the house. He immediately headed for Sasuke's bedroom, hoping his younger brother was awake. Entering the room, Itachi glanced over toward Sasuke's crib.  
Approaching the crib, Itachi noticed that his baby brother was fast asleep.  
He contemplated waking up his baby brother to show him his report card but decided against it. His baby brother was only a few months old and would not be able to understand what Itachi was trying to convey anyway. Itachi's life couldn't be better. He did very well at the Academy and now had a baby brother, a baby brother he intended to spoil. He always wanted a brother and even prayed for one. It seemed like his prayers were answered. Sasuke stirred, seemingly sensing Itachi's presence.  
He's definitely going to grow up to be strong, Itachi thought. After a moment, Sasuke's eyes opened up.  
"It seems like you're awake," Itachi smiled. He didn't feel like he had woken up his baby brother, but rather, his baby brother had woken up just for him.  
Sasuke squeaked.  
"Check this out," Itachi pointed toward his report card, "I'm not only the top in my class, but I'm the top in my school. Your brother's the best in the entire school,"  
Sasuke squeaked again.  
"Once you can start training, I'm going to train you to the best of my abilities, so you can be the best when you go to school as well," Itachi stated, "I'll show you everything I know. That way, you won't have to worry about making the same mistakes I've made in my training,"  
The two brothers held eye contact for several precious moments before Itachi turned around.  
Itachi smiled, happy for Sasuke. Sasuke got his name because of Itachi. Itachi had recommended that name when his parents had told him he would be having a baby brother soon. They had asked him what name he would have liked if he had a brother as well as if he had a sister. He had always liked the name Sasuke and Sakura. To his surprise, his parents actually named their new baby Sasuke when it turned out to be a boy.  
"Go back to sleep, Sasuke," Itachi said, "I'm going to go find mom and dad and show them my report card,"  
Itachi when he was young was very much different from the Itachi he had grown up to become. An energetic boy that loved receiving praise from his parents, Itachi tried his best to make his parents proud. He knew he would one day take over the Uchiha clan and wanted it, but he wanted to make his parents proud of him and make them feel perfectly at ease at letting him take over the clan when the time was right.  
Itachi left the room, heading for the living room where both his parents could usually be found. As he walked down the hallway, he contemplated sneaking up on his parents and presenting them with his report card. What better way to show off one's ability in getting such high marks than to actually put those skills to good use. Itachi hadn't done that in so long, sneaking up on his father. His father was a very skilled martial artist and always detected Itachi's presence. They had an ongoing game where, should Itachi one day sneak up on his father without being detected, Itachi would receive a large weekly allowance from that day on. The problem was that the consequences of attempting and failing meant he would not get an allowance for that week. Not a stupid child, Itachi knew that he had a long way to go before he would be skilled enough to sneak up on his father.  
After having lost many weeks' worth of allowances failing, Itachi had put off attempting so for several months, eventually forgetting about it altogether. It wasn't until tonight did he remember it. Remembering it, Itachi believed that he might actually succeed in sneaking up on his father. It had been several months since he last tried and he had improved greatly as a ninja since then.  
"Even if I fail, I doubt dad will punish me and take away my allowance after I show him my report card," Itachi smirked. While it was wrong to assume anything, Itachi couldn't help but feel optimistic.  
Itachi performed a few hand seals before releasing chakra around him to lighten himself, so that his footsteps were silent. While in the hallway, he stepped around a few times to test his steps and found them to be completely silent.  
Good, now that I can't be heard, now I have to remove any evidence of my chakra, Itachi thought.  
Executing a few hand seals, Itachi felt the chakra seemingly disappear from his body, leaving behind no evidence of his chakra. Itachi smiled to himself. At this point in time, the only way he could possibly be detected was through sight since he could not make himself invisible. The fact that he hadn't tried sneaking up on his father for several months would most likely make his father complacent in believing his son had finally given up.  
The only way my father or anyone is going to detect me is if they know I'm sneaking around and actively scanning their surroundings for me, Itachi thought happily.  
Confident that he would not be detected, Itachi exited the house and hopped up onto the rooftops. He walked over toward one side of the rooftop where he removed a loose roof shingle to reveal a small trap door. There was a secret opening in the roof that would allow him to drop down into the attic where he could navigate the house undetected, hoping to surprise his father by dropping down from the ceiling on him when he least expected it.  
Dropping down into the attic, Itachi waited for a moment for his eyes to become used to the darkness. He looked around for any traps, believing his father would set alarms within the attic specifically to catch Itachi unawares while sneaking around and revealing his location.  
Finding nothing around in terms of alarms, Itachi made his way across the attic to a small passage way that acts as the ventilation ducts for the house. He snuck his way around, making his way through the house where he came upon the area of the vent leading right into the living room area.  
Glancing through, expecting to see his father most likely occupied with reading the paper, Itachi planned on making his move. However, what he saw shocked him. Standing in the middle of the living room was his mother, a sword in front of her. The blade could be seen shaking as she held the sword pointed toward an unseen opponent. Because of Itachi's vantage point, he could not see who she was pointing the sword toward, only able to see the bottom of their legs.  
Lying motionless on the ground behind her was Itachi's father, a sword stuck in his chest. There was a puddle of blood surrounding him, slowly growing larger and larger as blood poured from the wound in his chest. Although he had been fatally wounded, the father was still alive as his eyes looked weakly up toward the ceiling.  
Itachi, realizing that the Uchiha Clan was somehow being attacked, silently reached for his daggers, intent on jumping to his parents' aid. He had no intention of just watching everything unfold and doing nothing.  
Before he broke out through the vents and into the living room to be by his mother's side, Itachi's and his father's eyes came in direct contact with one another.  
Trained in the art of lip reading, Itachi saw his father weakly mouth the words 'No. Don't' While the movement of his father's lips looked like that of a dying man's last breath, Itachi knew he had read his father's lips correctly. What? Itachi seemed to be shocked. My father wants me to do nothing? They're murdering him!  
He watched as his father closed his eyes one last time, dying right before Itachi's very eyes.  
"What do you want with us?" the mother asked the unseen opponent.  
"It's of no concern to you!" came a voice, a woman's voice, "You're going to die anyway so it's useless for you to know!"  
Itachi saw a flash of steel flash in front of his mother. A second later, his mom fell to the floor, as her head rolled cleanly off her shoulders.  
Noooo! Itachi thought, wanting to jump out to kill whoever her mother's murderer was. It had taken more willpower than he believed he ever had to keep himself from jumping out attacking.  
"I can't believe you had trouble with the Uchiha Clan," the woman said, stepping forward to stand over the mother's body. It seemed like the woman wasn't alone and were with a few people, all of them unseen, out of view of Itachi's line of sight.  
Itachi watched as a young woman with short haired stepped forward. There was a gash on the side of her face. She looked very angry as she walked over to where the father lay and pulled the sword from his chest.  
"You bastard! Look what you did to my face!" the woman shouted at Itachi's father as she held a hand up against her face where blood flowed freely from the wound.  
She brought one leg back, intent on kicking him.  
"Stop!" someone else said. She stepped forward where Itachi was able to see her. The woman had long blond hair that seemed to be as long as her body. Her hair fluttered in the air as if there was some kind of unseen gust of wind constantly blowing by her.  
"Why?" the short haired girl shouted angrily at the blond woman, "Look what the bastard did to my face?"  
"Because, we can't leave and physical damage to the house or the son will become suspicious," the blond stated, "How do you expect us to replace the Uchiha Clan and not make the son suspicious if the house is completely wrecked?"  
"Hmph!" the short haired woman sneered before turning away, tossing the sword away.  
"Let's hurry up and get rid of the bodies," the first woman said, "The son will be home from his training soon,"  
"So, do you really think this plan will work?" the short haired woman asked, "I'm not too sure how something like this would work. Creating clones to the real parts to raise the two sons into adulthood...that's very risky,"  
"It's simply one of our many plans," the mother's murderer stated, "The Uchiha Clan possess the Sharingan Bloodline and it would be most beneficial to acquire such an ability for our own. You think we are going to just wait for this plan to come into fruition? We just go along with our business and come back when the time is right,"  
A man stepped forward, quiet until now. Itachi noticed the man was covered in tattoo-like markings all over his body, as if those markings represented actual seals.  
"But there are so many variables that can go wrong," the tattooed man stated, "What if the sons find out about our plan?"  
"We kill them," the woman stated flatly, "The Uchiha Clan is a strong clan and have the potential to become very powerful, more powerful than us, the Akatsuki. However, rather than kill them outright and get rid of potential competition, I think it's worth the risk in actually assimilating their abilities as our own if we are patient enough,"  
"You have a point," the blond said, "I get goosebumps at the thought of actually possessing such an ability,"  
"Of course, we need to change the way the sons are raised," the woman said, "The father was laid back in his firstborn's growth. He didn't care how quickly his son grew. He didn't really care how strong his son became so long as he became strong. This time around, we'll have it so the firstborn is pushed to become the strongest as quickly as possible. We will even do the same for the second born son as well,"  
"How do you plan on doing that?" the blond asked.  
"By having the 'parents' raise the son thinking that he will be taking over the Uchiha Clan very shortly from now," the woman answered, "This will make him work harder than ever at becoming as strong as possible. The second born will simply follow after the firstborn's footsteps simply because they're siblings. When the time comes, we will assimilate their Sharingan Abilities as our own,"  
"That's a crazy plan, but it sounds like it might work," the short haired woman stated, "But we need to be careful. The firstborn is very perceptive and might catch on to our plan,"  
"If it's realized that the firstborn is onto the plan, we simply kill him and his brother," the woman said, "If, for any reason, we believe that either of them are onto our plan, we'll kill them. There isn't going to be much time and effort invested in raising them so it won't be much of a loss should we be forced to kill them,"  
"They're still young though," the tattooed man said, "How do you know that they will turn out like the way we want them? For all we know, one of them could grow up to be some kinda of killer,"  
"Then he can join us," the woman laughed, "We simply won't let it be known what our true intentions were. As appealing as it is having the Sharingan Ability for ourselves, it's also useful having the Sharingan Ability working for us. We need to keep in mind that not all things turn out the way we want it. We can adapt to the situations when it arises," "That sounds like a sound plan," the blond woman said.  
"Let's be off before we're discovered," the woman said, turning around and leaving the room.  
Itachi watched as the group of people that referred to themselves as the Akatsuki picked up the dead bodies of his mother and father and got rid of all evidence of what had transpired.  
Before he knew it, everything was silent. He remained where he was, seemingly in shock at what he had seen.  
After a good hour of just being there, feeling a great sense of depression, two individuals opened the door and entered the room. Itachi's heart skipped a beat as he realized it was his mother and father and that they were perfectly all right.  
For a brief moment, he thought that all the he had seen before had been nothing but a dream, that he had imagined it.  
He watched as the 'father' sat down on the floor and proceeded to read a newspaper while the 'mother' proceeded to clean the room. He realized that it wasn't a dream when the 'mother' seemed to notice remnants of blood on the floor and proceeded to vigorously clean it up. After a few moments, the stain was gone and the 'mother' could be seen sighing in relief.  
In that brief moment in time, Itachi's entire life had been changed. He had lost his parents. Fake 'parents' had taken over the role of his real parents. Should he ever reveal any indication that he knew what had transpired tonight, he and his brother would be killed.  
Itachi couldn't help but feel great sadness for his baby brother. Sasuke would never know what his real parents were like. The people who would be raising him would be fake shells of his real ones.  
What the hell am I going to do, Itachi thought to himself. Mom and Dad are dead. All I have left is Sasuke. I know, I'll just take Sasuke and run away. I'll raise Sasuke by myself.  
Itachi quickly banished that thought. There was no way he could raise Sasuke. Itachi was too young. He himself was a young boy. How can a person raise a child when he himself was a mere child? How far would he get anyway? It would only be a matter of time before it would be realized that he knew of what had happened and he and his baby brother would be hunted down and killed.  
There's nothing I can do, Itachi thought. I can't take Sasuke with me. If I run away, Sasuke will be killed. If I stay, I have to go on pretending like I don't know what had happened. Can I do that?  
"Yes, I can," Itachi said to himself. I need to go on living my life like nothing happened, like they're my real parents, Itachi thought. I have to. Sasuke's life depends on it.  
One day, I'll get my revenge. I'll kill them all, each and every one of them.  
Itachi made his way out of the house via the attic and secret opening in the rooftop.  
Once outside, he walked around the house and entered via the front entrance. He headed straight toward the living room.  
Entering, he found his 'father' busily reading the newspaper.  
Itachi regarded his 'father' for a moment before he steeled the burning hatred he had toward the imposter before him and the yearning to lash out at him and kill him. He had to steel his emotions. He didn't care if he died, but the life of his newborn baby brother depended on him. He could not allow that to happen. Someone else's life depended on Itachi's ability to steel his emotions.  
Itachi gave his 'father' a warm smile.  
"Hi, Dad," "How did you guys do it?" Itachi asked members of the Akatsuki Organization as they surrounded him.  
So caught up with finding his brother before the Akatsuki did, Itachi found himself caught by the pursuing group before long. He found himself standing in the middle of the remaining Akatsuki members just beyond the outskirts of the forest.  
"How did we do what?" the blond woman asked first.  
"How did you replace my parents?" Itachi asked, "How did you create clones so perfect that it fooled everyone for years?"  
"Ah, you must mean the forbidden technique," the tattooed man stated.  
Itachi narrowed his eyes, "The forbidden technique? You mean resurrection?"  
"Yes," the tattoo man smirked, "Come on, why do you look surprised? I'm sure you are not so na ve to our combined abilities that you truly believe we are incapable of doing something like that,"  
Itachi said nothing. He was aware of the Akatsuki being able to do so. He heard of Orochimaru once being a part of the organization and learning that technique and using it for his own means. Once Orochimaru learned of that technique, he left the organization soon afterwards. Whether or not the organization had hidden animosity toward Orochimaru for such a trick had yet to be determined.  
Itachi did several hand seals, preparing himself for the battle of his life. Alone and outnumbered, he needed to help even the numbers in whatever way possible. "There's no possible way you can take us all on," the blond interrupted Itachi, "You are not only the most foolish individual we have ever come across, but also the craziest. To think that a lowly ninja like yourself can take all of us on is truly laughable,"  
"You're very good," the tattooed man stated, "If you're lucky, you might be able to take one of us down, but against all of us, you're completely outnumber and over powered. And without that friend of yours to help you out, you're as good as dead,"  
Itachi said, "We will see,"  
"And once we're done with you, we will kill your brother, too," the blind swordsman added, "Since it's obvious that our original plan with you didn't turn out like the way we wanted, it's best we get rid of the both of you before you can possibly become a nuisance to us,"  
Itachi said nothing.  
Shizune clutched at her right shoulder as she slowly made her way through the forest and in the general direction of the temple. She had no idea where Ranma was but had a good idea that he could be found at the temple, provided he was still on this world to begin with.  
She had a wound on her shoulder but it was nothing too bothersome. The wound looked worse than it really was.  
Shizune had defeated Kabuto not too long ago. The young man was a very skilled fighter but her having poisoned him at before they fought had been the deciding factor in her victory. Both evenly matched in terms of skill, Shizune had the upper hand because Kabuto was slowly getting weaker the longer the battle lasted. Eventually, he succumbed to the full effects of the poison, allowing Shizune to end the battle decisively. As she made her way through the woods, she heard the sounds of battle occurring a short distance from where she was. She wondered who could be fighting. Speeding her way through the woods, she came to a halt when she saw a great deal of damage before her. Many trees were toppled over and some obliterated beyond recognition.  
"What the heck happened here?" she asked herself curiously.  
Her question was quickly answered when she caught sight of Ranma flying bodily through the air where he crashed against a tree nearby, smashing through it before bouncing off the ground and crashing into another tree before bouncing off it and falling to the ground.  
"Ranma!" she shouted, quickly rushing off to be by her side.  
"Damn, that Hokage guys hits really hard," Ranma muttered under his breath as he proceeded to get back onto his feet. When he saw Shizune standing before him, he looked genuinely surprised, "S-Shizune!"  
"What's going on here?" she asked him.  
Ranma rubbed the back of his stiff neck, "The Forth Hokage, that's what's up,"  
"What?" she asked.  
"That's what I'm trying to find out," Ranma stated, "At the current moment, I'm in the middle of a battle with the Forth Hokage. Speaking of which..."  
From out of the shadows emerged the spiky hair young man that was Ranma's opponent. Shizune regarded the young man for a moment before her eyes widened in complete shock.  
"T-That's the Forth Hokage!" Shizune couldn't believe what she was seeing.  
"I know. Didn't I just say that a second ago?" Ranma chuckled, "Man, shit's really hitting the fan, huh? Lookout!"  
He quickly stepped forward in front of Shizune as the Forth Hokage threw several daggers in their general direction. He continued to throw countless daggers as Ranma continuously swatted the out of the way. "Jeez, that guy seems to have to have unlimited daggers," Ranma said, looking at one of his forearms. One of the daggers had managed to hit him in the forearm and became embedded in it. He pulled the dagger out without even flinching in pain.  
"You're hurt," Shizune said.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "Considering the fact that I'm fighting Naruto's father, I'm very reluctant to fight back, merely out of respect for Naruto,"  
"Naruto's father is the Forth Hokage?" Shizune was surprised to hear that.  
"That's what I was told," Ranma said, "I dunno if it's true or not. However, there is a bit of a resemblance. Look, now's not really the time to be chit-  
chatting. It's good that you're here. I need you to do me a favor,"  
"What?" she asked.  
"Ton-Ton's stuck in a tree around a hundred yards directly North of here," Ranma said, "Sasuke's chasing after Itachi. Unfortunately, Itachi's probably up to his neck with trouble with the Akatsuki right now and Sasuke will most likely walk right their hands, not unless you find him and stop him. You need to get Ton-Ton had have Ton-Ton help you find Sasuke and get to him before it's too late,"  
"You need to explain what's going on," Shizune said.  
"Go!" Ranma said in a firm voice to Shizune before turning his full attention toward his opponent, "Things are getting seriously complicated and you have to go now,"  
"Fine," she said, turning around and heading off.  
"Oh yeah, and watch out for Orochimaru," Ranma called out.  
"What?" he heard Shizune's voice.  
With Shizune gone, Ranma turned toward the Forth Hokage, "Now, where were we?" Before either of the two of them did anything, a tree toppled over nearby as an orange blur tumbled on the ground a good fifty feet to a halt by Ranma's feet.  
Looking down, Ranma was pleasantly surprised to see Naruto, "Naruto! There you are!"  
Checking Naruto, he noticed Naruto was unconscious.  
Ranma was surprised see Naruto unconscious. He had trained Naruto specifically to withstand an insane amount of punishment before falling unconscious. Whoever did this to him must be some heartless monster to attack a young boy so viciously.  
"Whoa, who did this?" Ranma asked no one in particular.  
A woman emerged from behind a tree.  
"I did,"

new stuff 7/22

"Jeez," Ranma said as he noticed the dagger sticking out of Naruto's back.  
He quickly crouched down over Naruto and pulled the dagger out before checking his pulse. The young boy was out cold but Ranma wanted to make sure he was merely unconscious but in stable condition. And judging from the wound on Naruto's back, the dagger had penetrated his skin fairly deeply but no vial organs had been struck.  
Satisfied that Naruto would be fine, save for the world of pain he would be feeling the next day, Ranma sighed in relief.  
"Wow, you must be strong," Ranma turned toward the woman. Ranma was confident in himself as a sensei and the thought that someone being able to knock out one of his students, especially someone with a natural gift for martial arts like Naruto, was not an easy task.  
"And who might you be?" the woman regarded Ranma for a moment. She didn't recognize him from earlier, before she had walked off from the Akatsuki group that was surrounding him and Itachi.  
"Nobody special," Ranma shrugged, "How about you?"  
"That's none of your concern," she replied.  
There was a moment of brief silence as both individuals regarded one another, assessing one another's abilities. It didn't last long before Ranma was forced to turn his attention elsewhere as the Forth Hokage, whom had been nearby the whole time, threw several daggers toward Ranma.  
Ranma dodged the daggers, jumping back and away from Naruto's unconscious form. The daggers narrowly missed him, slicing through entire trees in the process.  
"Jeez, it seems like you're getting serious, huh?" Ranma asked. The woman turned her attention onto the Forth Hokage. She hadn't paid him much attention until now. When she looked at him, recognition dawned upon her as she recognized the blond haired man as none other than the late Forth Hokage of Hidden Leaf Village.  
For a brief moment, the woman's visage showed great sadness as she regarded the young man. Memories of her came flooding to her as she remembered the time she and the Forth Hokage used to know one another.  
"Y-Yondaime, y-you're supposed to be dead," the woman said, seemingly ignoring Ranma to focus her attention on the Forth Hokage, too caught in the moment.  
The young man, hearing someone call him by name, slowly turned his attention from Ranma and onto the woman. The woman regarded the Forth Hokage for a moment before she gave a brief smile before turning her gaze away, unable to keep his gaze. Ranma noticed that the man's soulless eyes showed no emotions or sense of recognition toward the woman. After a moment, the Forth Hokage turned his attention toward Naruto as he continued to lay unconscious nearby. Naruto was in no immediate danger even though Ranma wasn't nearby. Should either the Forth Hokage or the woman make any sudden moves toward the young boy, Ranma would be there in a flash to protect him.  
Ranma, extremely perceptive to even the most minute details, noticed a slight moment of recognition in the Forth Hokage's eyes, as if, for a brief moment, the empty shell that was the Forth Hokage had developed a temporary soul upon seeing Naruto.  
Oh my God, he recognizes Naruto, Ranma thought. He recognizes his son. "You, Forth Hokage, whatever your name is!" Ranma shouted out, pointing toward Naruto, "Do you recognize him? I'm sure you do! C'mon, that's your son!"  
"Son?" the woman looked shocked.  
She glanced in the direction of Naruto and then back at the Forth Hokage and then back again. She found herself skeptic of what she had heard. Sure, perhaps the young boy and the Forth Hokage did share some similarities like the fact that they had spiky blond hair, but that didn't mean they were father and son. "This can't be..." she said.  
The Forth Hokage turned his attention slowly onto Ranma, his eyes suddenly losing any indication of a soul once again. Without warning, the young man reached into the folds of his outfit and threw several more daggers toward Ranma.  
Once again, Ranma dodged the projectiles as they sailed right by him, shredding several trees in the process. It worried Ranma slightly seeing that. To throw daggers hard enough to have them slice completely through not one but several trees meant the young man possessed immense strength.  
"Yondaime!" the woman called out to the Forth Hokage, running toward him, "Yondaime! It's me! Don't you remember me?" The Forth Hokage slowly turned toward the woman. He watched as she approached him, showing her no emotions whatsoever, Ranma unable to read him.  
Just as the woman got close enough to the Forth Hokage, the young man lashed out at her, catching her completely by surprise, kicking her in the side and sending her flying bodily through the air where she crashed through several trees before coming to a sliding halt a short distance away from the young man.  
"Holy shit!" Ranma said in surprise. He had not anticipated the guy attacking the girl like that.  
He watched as the young man turned his full attention on the woman and started walking in her direction. He noticed one of the young man's arms was glowing blue as a small spherical ball of ki seemed to be forming by his fingertips, the ki spiraling violently within that sphere.  
"Hey, whatcha go and do that for?" Ranma called out to the young man, believing that the man intended on attacking the young girl.  
A short distance away, the woman coughed several times as she was on her hands and knees. That attack had caught her completely by surprised. Had she not been in a state of caution from fighting Naruto before, she would have been seriously hurt or even killed.  
She coughed a few more times before she attempted to get back onto her feet. When she did, she found herself looking face to face with the Forth Hokage. "Yondaime, it's me!" she said to him, "Don't you remember me? Don't you remember what we had in the past?"  
The young man made no effort in responding her questions. Instead, cocked his glowing blue arm back, intent on smashing that spiraling blue sphere of ki at his fingertips right into her face.  
Ranma, realizing that the woman was about to be attacked, immediately took action, dashing forward with blinding speed, hitting the Forth Hokage with an open palm strike to the chest and sending him flying bodily backwards where he crashed against a nearby tree and slumped to the ground and on his hands and knees.  
"What's wrong with you? Didn't you see that he was going to attack?" Ranma turned around to face the woman.  
He found himself surprised when the woman's face was twisted into that of pure animosity toward Ranma.  
"How dare you hit him!" she shouted angrily before she brought a forearm up and sent it crashing into the side of Ranma's face.  
"Erk!" was all Ranma could say before he was sent flying bodily through the air where he crashed through well over a dozen trees before bouncing off one and falling down to the ground.  
Ranma groaned in pain as he found himself looking up at the night sky. There were no tree branches nearby to block the view of the sky, Ranma's body having knocked down the nearby trees.  
"Goddamn, why'd she hafta go and do that?" he muttered as he slowly got to his feet. When he did, he found himself staggering a few stepped as the world around him looked like it was spinning. It seemed like the blow to the head had seriously disoriented him, the result of a nasty a concussion.  
"Ugh," Ranma muttered as he placed a hand against a tree to steady himself. He spit some blood from his mouth in the process and decided he needed a minute to rest. However, he didn't have time to rest for he heard the sounds of crashing trees nearby and turned his head to look.  
To his surprise, he caught a glimpse of the woman as she was seen flying bodily through a the air a short distance away from where he was standing, crashing through a good dozen trees before bouncing off one and down to the ground. The sight he beheld made Ranma assume that the Forth Hokage must had gotten to her and attacked her like he had originally intended.  
"Jeez, that guy has no qualms about attacking women it seems," Ranma spat in annoyance, "That goddamn prick,"  
Ranma stepped away from the tree and walked in the direction of where he had seen the woman flying bodily from, intent on bumping into the young man and showing him a thing or two.

new stuff 7/26

It didn't take long for before Ranma saw his opponent.  
"Boy, aren't you a big man, hitting women," Ranma said, his voice cold, "Why dontcha see if you can hit someone your size?"  
For a brief moment, the both of them stared at one another. The young man's eyes were icy cold, as if seeing right through Ranma.  
The young man threw several daggers toward Ranma. This time around, deciding to be serious, rather than dodge the incoming projectiles, Ranma caught the first incoming dagger and used it to deflect the dozen or so other incoming daggers.  
Once he deflected all the daggers, he used the one in his hand to throw it back at the young man. The dagger sailed through the air where it narrowly missed the young man's face, the dagger piercing through several trees in the process.  
"Nice dodge," Ranma noted that the young man had very impressive reflexes to react like that. Sure, Ranma didn't throw the dagger with intent to actually hit him, but the fact that he was able to dodge the projectile had Ranma actually tried to hit him was very impressive.  
The young man threw another dagger at Ranma.  
Ranma simply smirked, "Yeah, like that'll work,"  
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" the young man said, speaking for the first time, as he did several hand seals.  
Ranma's eyes widened in surprise as the lone dagger split into two, and then those two split into two more, and those four splitting to eight, and so on. Within a split second, that lone dagger continued to split several times until Ranma found more than five hundred daggers flying straight toward him.  
"Holy shit!" Ranma shouted in surprise.  
Reacting on instinct, Ranma quickly crouched, pressing both hands on the ground, "Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!"  
A wall of earth and rocks shot upward in front of Ranma and struck the incoming daggers, knocking them off their trajectories. Dirt flew everywhere, eventually falling back down to the ground like rain. When the dirt and dust was settled, Ranma looked annoyed and had several cuts and scrapes on his arms and shoulders. It seemed like a few of the daggers hand gotten through Ranma's countermeasure and had narrowly missed him, only causing him superficial wounds.  
"Okay, now I'm pissed!" Ranma sneered, dusting the dirt from his clothes.  
He rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles, ready to show that young man that he was messing with the wrong person. He had to admit, the young man did have potential and would probably become insanely powerful in a few decades, but at this point in time, Ranma had far too much experience on the young man for the young man to prove a threat.  
Ranma lunged toward the young man, a massive amount of dirt being kicked up behind him from the takeoff, intent on hitting the young man once and only once. He wanted to end the fight swiftly and without complications. The young man, seeing Ranma lunging toward him, leapt into the air in an attempt to leap over him. Ranma jumped straight up and grabbed one of the young man's legs as he flew over him. When they landed, Ranma held the young man by one leg upside down.  
"You've gotta be shitting me," Ranma laughed, "Do you know how many people do that, try and jump over a person when they charge? Everyone does that! Jeez, you're so damn predictable,"  
The young man, while upside down, threw several daggers toward Ranma. Ranma dodged the daggers while still holding the young man.  
"You're not gonna hit me anymore," Ranma said, "You've already hit me with 'em a half dozen times and that's more than enough. Now, let's see you dodge this!"  
Ranma pivoted around, bringing the young man up and around his head and toward the ground, intent on slamming him on the ground like some giant rag doll. Unfortunately, before he managed to actually slam the young man on the ground, he found himself being lifted up off the ground by one leg, an invisible force gripping at his ankle.  
"What the?" Ranma said as he found himself upside down, accidentally letting go of his opponent in the process. He looked upward toward his ankle, wondering what was holding him and saw nothing. Looking around, he caught sight of the woman emerged from behind a nearby tree and realized that it was most likely her doing this to him. "Don't you dare touch him!" the woman said coldly, her voice dripping with anger.  
He regarded the woman for a moment and noticed that she was holding her arm forward and sensed a strong aura of ki surrounding her and emanating from her body and shooting across the air and around his ankle.  
"So that's what your powers are," Ranma said, realizing that she had the ability to control ki as if it were some tangible albeit invisible force of nature.  
Ranma felt a hard punch in the side of his head, which immediately brought his attention away from the woman and onto the young man. While still suspended, he pivoted his body around to orient himself so he was facing the young man. "That was not a good idea!" Ranma said.  
When the young man punched at Ranma's face again, Ranma intercepted that young man's incoming arm and twisted it violently, sending the young man tumbling to the side where he crashed to the ground on his back.  
"Is that all you can do?" Ranma taunted, grinning all the while, "Try it again- Holy shit!"  
Ranma suddenly found himself thrown through the air where he was slammed down against the ground, hard.  
"Oof," Ranma said as the wind was knocked out of him.  
Before he had a chance to shake the cobweb from his head, he found lifted up into the air by that invisible force gripping his ankle. He found himself thrown through the air where he was slammed against the ground yet again, this time with more than twice as hard.  
Ranma found himself picked up into the air and slammed against the ground again and again. When he was slammed against the ground a fifth time, Ranma pressed both his hands against the ground.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" he shouted.  
The ground below the woman exploded upward, causing her to lose her grip over Ranma and dropping him to the ground as she was forced to turn her attention onto protecting herself.  
Ranma groaned as he slowly got to his feet, rubbing at his shoulders.  
"Jeez, that hurt," he muttered to himself, "Damn, maybe I was wrong. Maybe there are some really strong people on this world,"  
As he was saying that, he was struck in the back of the head with devastating force, Ranma having momentarily forgotten of the young man's whereabouts.  
Ranma was sent flying bodily forward where he slammed against a tree and fell backwards and onto the ground, unconscious. As powerful as Ranma was, he had a weakness. If struck hard enough from behind while completely unaware, he could be knocked out. Funnily enough, it took the devastating punch of the Forth Hokage, where he actually broke all the bones in his fingers in the process, to knock Ranma out.  
The woman cast a glance in Ranma's direction and smiled wryly as she noticed that Ranma was unconscious. She was relatively unscathed, able to create a shield of ki to protect herself at the last second when the ground exploded upward.  
She cast a glance toward the young man where she saw blood trickling down one of his hands. One of his hands looked unrecognizable, having been shattered beyond recognition from punching Ranma.  
"Y-you're hurt," the woman said in a soft voice, rushing forward toward the young man, seemingly forgetting completely of the fact that he attacked her viciously and seemed to harbor none of the feelings she held toward him.  
When she reached him, the young man reached out at her with his one good hand and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up off her feet.  
"Yondaime, please, remember me," she said in a soft voice, finding it hard to breath, "Don't you remember me? Don't you remember all the fun we had when we were young? Come on, I know you're not like this! Please, remember!"  
For the brief moment they made eye contact, the woman said notice some signs of recognition in those soulless eyes of his, the of glimmer of hope that she had that he did remember her and the past they had.  
After a moment, the man's eyes became cold and soulless again as he sneered toward her. The woman glanced down toward the man's broken hand where it started glowing blue as it seemed to magically heal itself, the broken bones in said hand becoming whole again.  
She watched in sadness as the a blue spiraling sphere of ki suddenly formed in the young man's once broken hand. She didn't need to be a genius to know the man before her intended to take her life.  
She closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate. If she were to ever be killed, she could think of no better way than to be killed by the one man she loved, still loved to this day.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" came a voice.  
Before the young man had a chance to take the woman's life, a ki-blast shot out from the darkness, rocketing through the air where it stuck the young man in the back, causing him to lose his grip of the woman as he was sent flying bodily through the air where he crashed against a tree and fell to the ground unmoving.  
The woman seemed to be in a temporary state of shock from seeing what had transpired. She turned her attention in the direction of the darkness from where the ki-blast had come.  
From out darkness emerged a young boy wearing an orange outfit.

new stuff 8/4

It was none other than Naruto.  
He watched as the young man slowly got back up to his feet, staggering a few steps before turning around to face him. It seemed like the impact of the ki-  
blast had lingering effects.  
"I have no idea what's going on, but it seems like you're some bad guy," Naruto commented toward the young man. Shortly after he had woken up and started walking around trying to figure out what happened to him, he caught sight of the young man hitting Ranma and knocking him out. From his quick observation, he believed that the young man was a new enemy.  
The young man regarded Naruto for a moment. Naruto didn't seem to recognize the young man as the late Forth Hokage. The young man didn't look much like the stone face carved into the side of a mountain in Hidden Leaf Village, his skin pale and his eyes soulless.  
"Naruto..." the young man said in a soft voice, recognizing his very own son briefly.  
"How do you know my name?" Naruto asked, "Who the hell are you?"  
He tried to figure out if the young man before him was friend of foe. He had attacked Ranma which would make him his foe, but he seemed intent on attacking the woman which would make him his ally. Which one was he and how did he know Naruto's name?  
The woman seemed confused, wondering how the young man knew Naruto's name as well.  
"You've grown..." the young man said softly.  
Before he had a chance to say anything, the brief moment of self-awareness seemed to disappear as the young man's visage suddenly became cold again. As if being controlled against his will, the young man reached into his pockets and produced several daggers.  
Moments before he threw his daggers toward Naruto, a young boy too inexperienced and incapable of dodging such high speed projectiles, a large tree trunk flew out from the nearby darkness and straight toward the young man, causing him to jump out of the way and landing a short distance away.  
"That was a nasty punch you had there," came Ranma's voice.  
Everyone turned around and found themselves watching Ranma as he emerged from the darkness of the forest and out into the open. Aside from some bumps and scrapes on his arms and face, he seemed perfectly fine. There seemed to be no indication of him having taking such a blow to the back of the head and being knocked unconscious by such a blow.  
"Yeah, I was knocked out," Ranma said when he noticed the woman seemed to shocked to see him conscious, "I admit it. However, what you nor very few people know is that I can only be knocked out for a few seconds at a time. Frankly speaking, that was your one and only opportunity to get ridda me and you missed it,"  
Ranma rubbed at the kink in his neck. "I'm done with playing nice guy now," Ranma spat some blood from his mouth, "This shit's getting ridiculous. I don't care how you and that former Hokage seem to know each other, but if either one of you make any sudden movement toward me, I'm going to show you just how badly and quickly I can beat someone down when I've decided to fight seriously,"  
"Former Hokage?" Naruto scratched his head. He regarded the young man for a moment before his eyes widened in recognition, "Oh my God! You're the Forth Hokage! How's that possible?"  
Naruto didn't recognize the Forth Hokage initially simply because he was too caught up in the heat of battle to realize who he was fighting. His shock didn't last long before he composed himself, remembering that the real Forth Hokage was dead. Whoever he was looking at was most likely an imposter.  
"This is weird," Naruto scratched his head, "Who the heck are you and where did you come from?"  
Ranma wondered if he should tell Naruto the truth, that the young man before him seemed to be his resurrected father. But then again, considering Naruto grew up without a family, knowledge that the young man was his father would most likely mean nothing to Naruto.  
Ranma took a glance at the woman and the former Hokage, assessing them. It seemed like they both knew each other. What seemed strange was that the former Hokage seemed to attack both Ranma and the woman indiscriminately while the woman seemed to make no efforts in fighting back against that young man. It was as if it were some weird three-way battle.  
"C'mon, guys, let's see whatcha got," Ranma said to both the woman and the young man.  
From out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the blond young man making a dash toward him. He quickly turned his attention toward his opponent.  
When the young man punched at Ranma, Ranma stepped toward the side at the very last second, skillfully dodging the attack, leaving himself with a perfect opportunity for a counter attack. Ranma lashed out at the young man with his index and middle finger, hitting his opponent in the soft portion of skin located just under the young man's nose, striking his filtral nerve. The young man's eyes began to tear uncontrollably, as he stepped backwards, momentarily losing sight of Ranma. Much like being struck in the solar plexus, the attack had temporarily debilitating effects, leaving a person open for another attack.  
Ranma, using those same two fingers, curled them up toward his palm and struck the young man in his right collarbone, hitting it much like the way one would use their knuckles to knock on a door.  
A crack could be heard as the collar bone broke under the surprisingly light attack. Ranma, extremely skilled in all forms of attacks, knew exactly how little or how much force was needed to break a certain bone and exerted just enough to make a clean break.  
The young man fell down to one knee, still teary eyed, one arm now rendered useless as he clutched at his shoulder area with his remaining working arm, his face contorted into that of intense pain.  
"Is that all you've got?" Ranma said in annoyance.  
As if annoyed that his opponent didn't turn out to be as good an opponent Ranma wanted him to be, Ranma boxed one of the young man's ears. Boxing someone's ears could be achieved by basically cupping one hand and slapped it against the a persons ear. Having one's ears boxed disturbed one's sense of balance, wrecking havoc to their sense of equilibrium. This was because striking the ear with a cupped hand sent a large volume of air into the ear chamber where it would hit the eardrum and cause it to start ringing. Because the eardrums helped maintain a person's sense of balance, having one eardrum damaged would disrupt that sense of balance.  
That guy won't be able to fight anytime soon, Ranma thought as he looked down at his disoriented opponent. The young man, while on one knee, could be seen swaying back and forth slightly as he tried to keep standing.  
Ranma was almost caught by surprise when he was struck in the side of the head by a wicked roundhouse. What surprised him was the fact that the young man seemed to have recovered from the combination of debilitating attacks to actually mount a counter attack.  
The moment Ranma felt the young man's foot it him in the side of the face, Ranma took the blow so it would give him the opportunity to reached an arm up and around, seizing the man's leg against his shoulder and the crook of his neck.  
In one fluid motion, Ranma stepped forward, bringing the young man's leg up into the air as he simultaneous made a pivoting motion toward the side, grabbing the young man's face in one hand and slamming him down into the ground by the back of his head. While Ranma was in an angered state, he did take care to hit to slam the young man against the ground to knock him out and not cause any brain damage from such an impact. Ranma had enough control to hold back and not use full force when attacking someone, otherwise, he would have easily killed the young man.  
Ranma looked down at the young man and knew, without a doubt, that the fight is ended. Over the span of no more than one second, Ranma had defeated the former Hokage.  
He turned his attention toward the woman, who looked shocked. She had never seen someone so effectively use hand-to-hand combat before. One of the members of her group, the girl with the short hair, was also skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but no where near at the level Ranma had displayed. It was as if Ranma made no wasted motions nor exerted excessive force beyond what was required to defeat someone.  
After a moment, she realized what had happened, that Ranma had defeated a person she cared deeply for.  
"How dare you!" she sneered coldly, her battle aura erupting violently and surrounding her.  
"I dared," Ranma taunted, "C'mon, let's see what you can really do,"  
The woman made a gesture toward Ranma, letting loose a large tidal wave of ki in his direction. Trees nearby could be seen toppling over from the downward pressure being exerted from such an intense attack.  
Naruto, silent until now, could be seen taking shaking steps backwards as he could sense the overwhelming sensation of ki barreling down toward him and Ranma.  
Ranma grinned as reached down and picked up the former Hokage's unconscious body by the back of his neck, holding him up held it in front of him as if intending to use him as a human shield.  
The woman quickly halted her attack, the ki quickly dissipating much like the way smoke would dissipate should it be visible. There was a look of concern on the woman's face as she realized her dilemma, that she was against an opponent that was aware of her feelings toward the former Hokage and that he seemed to have no qualms about using that fact to his advantage.  
"Give up now and no harm will come to this man," Ranma said firmly.  
"Preposterous!" the woman sneered.  
Ranma reached out and grabbed the young man's arm and twisted it behind his back, "It's obvious you seem to have feelings for this guy. If you don't do as I say, he will suffer,"  
The woman's lips were a thin line as she contemplated Ranma's threat. This was definitely a turn of events for her but from what she could gather, Ranma didn't seem like the person that would do something like that.  
"Go ahead," the woman lied, "He means nothing to me!"  
Ranma twisted the unconscious man's arm. A loud blood-curdling snap could be heard. Funnily enough, Ranma knew how to manipulate a person's arm to give off the impression that he had broken the arm. It was one of the many techniques that Ranma knew. He never used it in combat before but he knew that the belief that a person's arm had been broken was psychologically as damaging as if having one's broken for real.  
"You fucking bastard!" she shouted at him, charging toward him.  
Ranma smiled, reaching out and grabbing the young man's other arm, "Take another step and I break his other arm,"  
The woman came to a sliding halt.  
Ranma smirked, "It's obvious that this young man here means quite a lot to you. Care to explain just why?"  
The woman said nothing.

new stuff 4/10

A long time ago, a young girl sat by herself on a swing. She looked longingly at the young group of kids as they happily kicked at a ball to one another, trying their best to keep the ball from hitting the ground. The group seemed completely unaware that she was observing them. There was a sad look on her face as she inwardly wished she could be a part of that group.  
The girl looked no older than ten. "Hi," came a voice.  
The girl turned toward the voice, surprised. She found herself looking up at a young boy roughly her age, perhaps a year older than she was. He had short spiky blond hair and had this happy-go-lucky demeanor to him.  
"Um, hi," she said meekly, her voice barely heard.  
The boy sat down on the empty swing next to her. She watched his as he proceeded to swing himself, slowly going higher and higher as he swung back and forth.  
"I love swings," the boy said happily.  
The girl said nothing.  
"I'm Yondaime," the boy said, "What's yours?"  
The girl said nothing. There was a reason why she didn't give a name. She didn't have a name. The only people that knew her name were her parents and they were dead. Possessing fragmented memories, the young girl retained no memories of exactly who her parents were and what they were like. All she knew was that she was somehow responsible for their deaths because that was why she was cast from society. Of course, she had no idea exactly how or why.  
"I'm new here," the boy said, "This seems like a nice town,"  
"Why are you talking to me?" the girl asked softly.  
Yondaime seemed confused, "What? I'm not supposed to talk to you?"  
There was a moment of silence.  
"Well, it's just strange that you're talking to me. That's all," she answered after a minute.  
"Why's that?" he asked.  
She said nothing, surprised. How could this young boy not know about her? Everyone knew who she was. She was a this village's youngest murderer, having murdered both her parents before her sixth birthday, at least that was what she had been told. Since then, she had been living on the streets, shunned by society. She found herself surprised at the young boy's courage. How come this boy wasn't running away from her like everyone else? Everyone cowered at her sight and usually ran away, even full grown adults.  
She watched as the boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a stick of gum.  
"You want any gum?" he asked bluntly, offering it to her.  
She said nothing. Instead, she stared at the piece of gum. It was the first time anyone had ever offered something to her.  
"Okay, suit yourself," After a moment, figuring the girl didn't want any gum, Yondaime put the piece of gum in his mouth and proceeded to chew it.  
For several minutes, the young boy continued to swing on the swing, seemingly minding his own business. "How did you get a name like Yondaime?" she asked from out of the blue. Unaccustomed to attention, she found herself liking it and didn't really want it to end.  
"It's not my real name," the young boy answered, "It's just a nickname I gave myself,"  
"Yondaime, huh? 'The Forth' what?" she asked. The literal translation of the young boy's nickname was 'The Forth'.  
"Hokage," he answered, "I plan on being the Forth Hokage of my village,"  
"Hokage? Does that mean you're from Hidden Leaf Village?" she asked.  
The boy nodded.  
So that's why he doesn't run away like everyone else, she thought to herself. He's not from around here. He's from a completely different country.  
"My real name's Arashi, but everyone calls me Yondaime," he said, grinned, "I started the nickname myself and it kind of stuck. Since I'm gonna be the forth Hokage before long, a nickname like that is perfect,"  
The young girl regarded the boy for a moment. Although she was unused to social contact and being around people, she knew then and there that the boy before her was someone extremely ambitious. She found herself rather envious of him, because he had some kind of goal he wanted to achieve. She, on the other hand, was without a path, living from day to day on the streets, doing what she could to survive.  
A man approached the two children. He looked to be in his mid thirties and had long mane of white hair. It was none other than Jiraiya when he was younger.  
"I see you're making yourself a new friend, huh?" Jiraiya said with a smile to the young boy.  
"Yeah," Yondaime said, "We were just chatting while I was waiting for you. Are you done with your errands? Are we ready to head back home?"  
Jiraiya nodded, "Yes," Jiraiya and Yondaime were in the village doing something. Jiraiya had to deliver something. Yondaime was there to participate in the annual young-ninja tournament that village held. Since Yondaime was being exclusively trained by Jiraiya, Jiraiya had decided to bring the young boy along with him to train him along the way. They were basically killing three birds with one stone, to train Yondaime along the way, deliver something, as well as get Yondaime to the village and give him the opportunity to participate in the tournament. It was actually the day after the tournament, a tournament that Yondaime had won easily. They had to stay a few days while there.  
"And who might you be?" Jiraiya smiled at the young girl, completely unaware of who she was. He noticed that there was this weird aura to her and sensed that she would become a very powerful when she grew up.  
"She wouldn't say," Yondaime said.  
Jiraiya regarded the young girl for a short moment, sensing the hard life that she had. Of course, he had no real idea of the hardships she had endured. All he knew was that she was a young girl forced to grow up before her time, an indication of a hard life.  
The young girl cast Jiraiya an icy look. She didn't like adults one bit. She believed they were even more cruel than children. "Well, it was nice meeting you," Jiraiya said to the young girl, "We must get going. See you around,"  
Jiraiya started walking off. Yondaime smiled to the young girl.  
"You never did tell me your name. I feel weird that you know my name but I don't know yours," Yondaime said.  
The young girl said nothing for a moment. "What, you're not supposed to tell me?" he asked curiously, "Are you supposed to keep your name a secret or something?"  
"I have no name," she said softly, embarrassed. She had no real idea why she was revealing this part of her to him. Could it be because he seemed to be the only person not afraid of her that made her want to open up to him?  
"Huh?" Yondaime scratched his head, "Whatcha mean by you have no name? What does everyone call you?"  
She said nothing. If her name was that of what people called her whenever they referred to her, than she would be 'Demon-spawn'. She was very sure that that was not her real name.  
"How about I give you a name?" Yondaime said, smiling happily.  
"W-what?" she was surprised.  
"If you have no name, then let's give you a name," he answered matter-of-  
factly. "L-like what?" she asked.  
Yondaime scratched his chin, "I dunno. It should be a really cool name. Oh, how about 'Himitsu'?"  
"Himitsu?" she asked, point her herself, "You think I should be called Himitsu?"  
"Sure," Yondaime smiled, "At first, I thought you didn't want to tell me your name because you wanted to keep it a secret. Since 'Himitsu' means 'Secret', that sounds like a fitting name, dontcha think?"  
The young girl was silent for a moment as she thought about it. Himitsu did sound like a nice name. And not only that, it would be nice to have a name. "You like it?" Yondaime said, "How about it? From today on, your name will be Himitsu,"  
The young girl gave an embarrassed look, "Um, okay,"  
"Maybe I'll see you around next year," Yondaime said.  
"Next year?" she asked.  
"Yes, your village holds an annual young-ninja tournament every year," Yondaime answer, "I'll be participating in it next year, and every year after that for a few years until I'm too old to participate in it. Well, I'll see you around. We gotta head back to our country now. Maybe I'll see you around here exactly one year from now. I'll be back here another time. Oh yeah, I'm from Hidden Leaf Village. If you're ever in that village, maybe we might bump into each other,"  
The young girl watched silently as Yondaime got off the swing and ran off after the large white-haired man, eventually disappearing around a corner. But before he did, he stopped to give her a wave goodbye.  
Over the course of many years, every year, they met at that very spot and indulged in a brief conversation before Yondaime went on his merry way. The young girl always looked forward to that day every year.  
That had happened a long time ago.

Ranma regarded Himitsu with a critical eye. He saw the emotions right on her face. It was very evident that she had great feelings for Yondaime. He found it odd how she seemed unaware that the man in his hands was nothing more than a physical representation of the person she cared for. There was a brief moment of silence as Himitsu contemplated what to do. She found herself surprised when Ranma chucked the unconscious former Hokage through the air toward her. She quickly rushed forward and caught him in her arms before he hit the ground. Unfortunately, so used to having her own ki do her bidding, she wasn't used to the impact of the unconscious man's body crashing against her own as she ended up staggering backwards where she fell to the ground, the young man lying unconscious by her legs.  
Realizing that she had momentarily taken her eyes off her opponent, she quickly looked around for him, realizing he had intentionally thrown his hostage toward her to distract her.  
She was surprised yet again when she realized Ranma was standing right where he had been, never having moved.  
"Leave," he said in a somewhat cold voice, "Take him with you,"  
"W-what?" she asked.  
"I'm trying to be diplomatic here," Ranma shrugged, "If there's a chance to avoid a fight, then I'd rather take that instead. Consider this a fair trade, I leave the former Hokage alone in exchange to you leaving Naruto alone. We just go separate paths,"  
The young woman looked as if she was contemplating this. Briefly, she wondered what she needed to do to capture Naruto while still being able to keep Ranma from taking Yondaime as a hostage again.  
"Don't even think about trying to change the situation to your advantage," Ranma said bluntly, "There is no way you will be able to do so while having to worry about the welfare of your unconscious friend or lover or whatever,"  
There came a rustle from some nearby bushes that caught Himitsu's and Ranma's attention. From out of the shadows emerged Orochimaru. He had a big grin on his face for he had a hold of Naruto. Naruto was standing in front of him, both his arms twisted awkwardly behind his back, the blade of a sword held closely to his neck.  
Ranma sighed in annoyance, shaking his head in disgust at himself. There was too many things happening at the same time that Ranma had trouble keeping track of everything. He had forgotten about Naruto being nearby and it seemed Orochimaru managed to seize the opportunity to capture him as a hostage.  
"Orochimaru!" Himitsu said, her aura flaring. Orochimaru smiled, knowing full well he was holding all the cards, "Now don't do anything rash. We wouldn't want something to happen to Naruto, now would we?"  
Himitsu sneered. "Who would have thought things would have turned out like this?" Orochimaru laughed, "To think, the leader of the Akatsuki Organization, having feeling for the late Forth Hokage of Hidden Leaf Village. What a great sense of irony,"  
Orochimaru cast a glance toward Yondaime's unconscious form, "Kill her,"  
Himitsu immediately released her hold of Yondaime and took a step back just as Yondaime seemed to mysteriously come back to consciousness and slash at her neck with a dagger, narrowly missing her.  
"W-why?" she said in a look of complete confusion. Was she completely unable to get through to Yondaime? Did he remember nothing about her? Were all the happy memories they had shared when they were children gone?  
"Stand by my side," Orochimaru said to Yondaime.  
Yondaime could be seen slowly getting to his feet where he walked over to where Orochimaru stood.  
"Now I get it," Himitsu said weakly, "I should've known this was your doing,"  
She was aware of Orochimaru's knowledge of the forbidden technique of resurrection. Afterall, he had stolen that knowledge from the Akatsuki Organization shortly before he defected. That was the main reason why the Akatsuki disliked Orochimaru.  
"Erk!" Orochimaru said as he was suddenly struck in the face, releasing his hold of Naruto, as he was sent flying bodily backwards into a tree.  
Ranma had this look of extreme amusement on his face as he saw what saw. Yondaime, most likely wanting to save his son, had attacked Orochimaru. It seemed like Orochimaru had not been aware of what Naruto meant to Yondaime.  
Naruto looked to be in a state of surprise as he just looked up at Yondaime, completely confused at what was going on. Wasn't Yondaime the bad guy? If so, why would he attack a bad person like Orochimaru?  
Orochimaru had a look of confusion on his face as he wiped the blood away. He did not expect to get attacked whatsoever that he had no time to dodge the attack.  
He cast a glance toward Orochimaru and noticed him in a battle stance while holding a lone dagger in one of his hands. He was standing in front of Naruto as if protecting him. It was quite an odd sight for Yondaime's eyes actually showed a flare of life, unlike the soulless eyes he was supposed to possess.  
"What the?" Orochimaru was confused.  
Naruto, free from Orochimaru's grasp, ran away from him to take refuge by Ranma's side. The young boy didn't hide behind Ranma like some scared child but did feel a whole lot more safe knowing that Ranma was at least now next to him.  
Ranma smirked, "Seems like you've realized something's wrong. I guess you don't realize this but the Forth Hokage is none other than Naruto's father,"  
"What?" Naruto and Orochimaru said in unison.  
"Are you kidding me?" Naruto gasped in surprise.  
"Well, I guess it was gonna get out anyway," Ranma shrugged. He had no real idea if he was supposed to keep that a secret. Something like that should be revealed to Naruto, especially with the fact that his father was standing right there trying to kill everyone.  
"How's that possible?" Naruto said.  
"C'mon, I'm pretty sure you're old enough to understand how babies are made," Ranma chuckled. While now was not an appropriate time to be indulging in conversation, it didn't seem to bother Ranma.  
Ranma wondered what he should do as he watched Yondaime attacking Orochimaru viciously. Orochimaru found himself having a very hard time dodging all of the young man's attacks, his full concentration on simply surviving. Having Yondaime turn on him was something Orochimaru had not expected as well as made him realize that he would quickly be defeated if he didn't do something fast. Yondaime was incredible powerful.  
"Erk!" Orochimaru suddenly found himself unable to move.  
A sharp pain shot up and down his right arm and body as Yondaime stabbed him in the right shoulder.  
Orochimaru found himself able to move again as he fell down to his hands and knees, one hand clutching at his shoulder as blood poured out freely, his arm hanging limply, now useless. He looked up briefly and caught sight of Himitsu smirking at him.  
He sneered as he realized Himitsu had used her powers to bind him momentarily so Yondaime could get a perfect chance to land a rather critical attack. He had been so distracted that he forgot about Himitsu, dodging Yondaime having taken up all of his concentration.  
Ranma scratched his head, wondering what he should do. It seemed as like some kind of free-for-all. Himitsu was attacking Orochimaru and Ranma. Yondaime was attacking Ranma and Himitsu and Orochimaru. Ranma remained defensive, tending to let things play out on their own to see where it led. Naruto had no idea what was going on and thought everyone was a bad guy and might even attack Ranma out of confusion.  
Ranma looked down at Naruto and noticed the young boy seemed to be completely confused at what was going on.  
"Don't worry, you're not the only one that has no real idea what's going on," Ranma smiled, hoping to calm the young boy down. What was going on was complete anarchy and Naruto seemed unused to it. Ranma, on the other hand, could sleep through anarchy like this.  
"Let's get outta here," Ranma said, beginning to head off.  
"What? Where?" Naruto asked, very confused, "We're running away?"  
"No, this is none of our business," Ranma said, "Whatever seems to be going on seems to be between the Forth Hokage, that girl Orochimaru just called Himitsu, and Orochimaru. Let's not get involved,"  
Believing Ranma knew better than he did, Naruto nodded, "Okay,"  
"Head north, I'll follow you," Ranma said.  
Naruto turned around and started running off.  
"Where do you think you're going?" he heard Himitsu's voice. She had no intention of losing track of Naruto, even if he was Yondaime's son. She needed him to complete her plans.  
Naruto glanced over his shoulder and sensed a massive tidal wave of ki descending upon him.  
"Ha! Nice try," Ranma said as he followed behind Naruto, twisting in the air to face the tidal wave of ki and simply making a motion with his hand as if sending out his own tidal wave of ki to dissipate it.  
"Che," Himitsu sneered as she watched Naruto and Ranma disappear into the darkness of the woods, "I'll deal with them later,"  
She glanced in the direction of Yondaime. She watched as he violently slashed at Orochimaru, Orochimaru doing the best that he could to avoid those attacks. More and more scratches and cuts were created as some slashes managed to graze him.  
When Orochimaru realized he was in deep trouble, that his plan to resurrect Yondaime as his trump card was backfiring, he had only one choice to take.  
"Begone," Orochimaru said, making a gesture with his one good arm.  
Yondaime's eyes winded as he suddenly glowed brilliantly white, its brilliance causing both Orochimaru and Himitsu to shield their eyes with their hands. When the brilliance disappeared, Yondaime no longer remained, his body replaced by Kimimaru's body.  
Kimimaru, whose body had been used as a shell to house the essence of Yondaime to allow for his resurrection, fell to the ground, dead.  
"Che," Orochimaru said. Things had turned out a lot differently from what he had originally planned. He figured he had been in great luck when he came upon Kimimaru's corpse, the man having been killed not by Ranma but by time, the diseased he suffered finally having taken fruition, and had come up with a plan to use his corpse as a shell to bring Yondaime to life. He had never planned for Yondaime to turn on him. Something like that was unprecedented and should not have happened. Then again, it was unprecedented that a person being resurrected had ever come in contact with his or her kinfolk, let alone son.  
Himitsu watched as Yondaime's body disappeared to reveal Kimimaru, and then Kimimaru's body fall to the ground dead.  
A sad look on her eyes as she started to come to her senses. She couldn t believe she could have been so easily tricked. The man before her was not Yondaime, the man she had fallen in love with when she was young. He was nothing more than a shell of a man that had the appearance and similar fighting style as the late Yondaime. She cast a glance toward Orochimaru, her aura flaring. Orochimaru had a worried look on his face as he realized he was now dealing with an angry Himitsu. "Orochimaru!" she sneered.  
Himitsu pressed her hands on the ground.  
The holes on ground below Orochimaru opened up as invisible spikes shot upward, several spikes spearing right through Orochimaru's legs.  
"Ugh," Orochimaru said as he looked down at his thighs and saw huge gaping holes where the invisible spikes pierced him. His eyes widened as he saw his one of his legs ripped right off his body as the spike seemed to grip his leg and rip it off at the wound.  
"Ahhhh!" Orochimaru fell to the ground as blood poured from his now severed leg, gripping at it with his one good arm. The pain was excruciating. He couldn't believe how powerful Himitsu was. He knew she was powerful, but not this powerful.  
Orochimaru found himself unable to breath as Himitsu manipulated her ki to wrap around his neck and slowly begin tightening its grip.  
He found himself being lifted off the ground as he continued to struggle with his one good arm to loosen the grip of Himitsu's ki over his neck, much to no avail.  
"I don't like you," Himitsu sneered, "I don't like you one bit!"  
She manipulated her ki to grab a hold of Orochimaru's struggling arm.  
"Argh!" Orochimaru screamed as his arm was ripped right out of its socket. He looked over toward the side where he saw his arm precariously thrown to the side like it was nothing but garbage.  
"Die!" she said.  
Orochimaru felt something grip around his waist. His face twisted in pain as he felt his lower body twisting in one direction as his upper body twisted in another direction.  
A loud crack could be heard as Orochimaru's lower spine shattered from the twisting. He screamed out in pain as his lower body was twisted clean off from his upper body.  
Himitsu tossed Orochimaru's upper and lower half away like a rag doll. Before she ran off after Ranma, she cast a glance toward Orochimaru as the man had a look of complete shock on his face from being so utterly defeated. He had only a few minutes to live before he would die from blood loss. And even if he was able to stop the bleeding, he would die from shock. She could have broken his neck and ended his life in an instance, but instead, chose to fatally injure him so that he would live just long enough to realize he was going to die.  
Satisfied with the inflicting a horrible fate upon Orochimaru, Himitsu turned around and headed off in the direction Ranma and Naruto had gone, disappearing into the darkness of the woods.  
Itachi, having gone looking for Sasuke on his own, eventually found himself alone and surrounded by the Akatsuki right by the outskirts of the forest. Realizing his situation, Itachi couldn't help but feel regretful of having ran off while Ton Ton had been busy sniffing around for Sasuke's scent a short while ago. At least that way, Ranma would be around to even the playing field.  
"I must say, Itachi-chan," the blond haired woman smirked, "We are all surprised you've managed to fool even all of us. We truly believed you were a monster, that you were capable of murdering your own 'friends and family' in cold blood. It was rather ingenious out you, to pretend to have been a cold blooded murderer and murdered your so called 'friends and family', to drive away any possible suspicion that you had caught on to our plans,"  
Itachi smirked. "It's really amusing how the chain of events unfolded," the woman laughed, "It seems all that you have gone through was for nothing. To be branded a cold hearted murderer, just to circumvent suspicion that you had realized of our original plans to acquire the Sharingan ability of you and your brother, and save your brother's life, and all those years of living like a criminal, all for nothing. And what's even more amusing is that your little brother knows none of this," the woman laughed, "Your brother will die knowing nothing of your sacrifice to save his life. He will basically die cursing himself for not being strong enough to kill you himself before his life is ended,"  
Itachi sneered, "Don't think I won't go down without a fight,"  
"You may get lucky and take down one of us, perhaps even two of us," the blond woman laughed, "But you're completely outnumbered. And not only that, once we are done with you, we will kill your brother, but not before we tear his eyes and acquire the Sharingan ability from him,"  
"Not if I have something to do with it," Itachi retorted.  
"You must be stupid to not fully understand your situation," the woman stated, "Nothing shy of divine intervention will save you or your brother from a grisly fate,"  
"Divine intervention?" came Ranma's voice, "Would my intervention be considered enough?"  
From out of the shadows emerged Ranma.  
All the surrounding Akatsuki members became visibly annoyed at the unwelcomed visitor. Ranma was such a bothersome opponent. Naruto was nowhere to be seen, Ranma having told him to go look for Shizune and Ton-Ton while he himself went on ahead to look for Itachi.  
Ranma looked around at the surrounding Akatsuki. He noticed the giant of a man seemed to no longer have two broken hands, as if someone from the group had healed them or the giant had healed his hands himself. He also noticed the bald man with the bo staff was also nearby, a look of pent up hatred toward Ranma evident in his eyes. This surprised Ranma as he realized the Akatsuki members seemed to be very resilient, able to get right back up shortly after being felled.  
Ranma grinned at the man with the bo staff.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" he shouted as he placed both hands on the ground.  
The bald man's eyes widened as he quickly dove out of the way, expecting the ground to explode upward. When the man rolled on the ground and back up to his feet, the ground nearby exploded upward. Luckily for him, it exploded just a far enough distance away that the man was able to shield himself from the rocky shrapnel with just his arms.  
"Damn," Ranma muttered, snapping his fingers, "Missed,"  
Ranma had anticipated that the bald man would jump out of the way and made the ground explode where he thought the man would land. Unfortunately, the man didn't quite land exactly where Ranma had originally anticipated.  
"Ryoga is so much better at using the Bakusai Tenketsu Revised technique, that's for sure," Ranma said to himself.  
Ryoga was ungodly good at using that technique. No matter where Ranma dodged, the ground would exploded upward wherever he landed. The only way to counter that technique was to use the Kashuu Tenshin Amaguriken technique to actually catch all the flying debris in mid-flight or get hit. Ryoga's ability to use the Bakusai Tenketsu technique so effectively had convinced Ranma to start using it as well. "Che," the bald man said, realizing he could have been knocked out yet again had he landed only several feet off from where he had landed.  
Ranma picked up a couple of rocks and threw one toward the bald man, barely missing him by inches had the man not used his staff do deflect it.  
"Yes, I am picking on you," Ranma said, casually tossing the remaining rock up and down in his hand, "Let's just say I'm going to specifically target you from here on because you basically picked on the wrong person and I want you to learn the hard way that you bit off more than you could chew,"  
The bald man shouted an obscenity toward Ranma and stabbed his bo staff into the air in front of him, a portal opening up as the front of the staff disappeared into it.  
Ranma grinned as he quickly turned around and threw his remaining rock right into the portal that he knew was going to appear behind him, leaning backwards to dodge the staff that shot out from the portal and toward his head.  
The rock disappeared into the portal and came sailing out of the portal in front of the bald man, barely missing him had he not tilted his head at the very last second. The bald man seemed visibly shaken at what had just happened. Somehow Ranma had found an exploitable flaw to his bo staff's warping attacks. It didn't bother him that it now handicapped him with one of his main means of offense. It was how quickly Ranma caught on and managed to turn something like that to his advantage.  
Ranma picked up another rock, a grin on his face, "Try that warp trick again and I won't miss,"  
Itachi smirked. It was obvious that Ranma was toying with his opponent. Ranma glanced around toward everyone else as they seemed almost transfixed at Ranma's abilities. Seeing what Ranma was capable of was both a frightening and awe-inspiring experience.  
Ranma smirked toward Itachi.  
"Looks like it's gonna be us versus them,"

new stuff 4/15

Naruto heard a squeak from the bushes just as he went running by. He came to a sliding halt before turning around and approaching the bush. As he approached, Ton-Ton emerged. The pig looked rather happy to see the young boy.  
"Ton-Ton!" Naruto smiled happily.  
Ton-Ton ran up to Naruto and circled around Naruto a few times to express its happiness to see him.  
"Bwee!" Ton-Ton pointed its snout in what looked like a random direction.  
Naruto scratched his head, "I have no idea what you re saying. I'm not Ranma,"  
"Bwee!" Ton-Ton tugged at Naruto's pant legs. "Oh, you want me to follow you," Naruto surmised, "Does this hafta do with Sasuke? Did you pick up on his scent?"  
Ton-Ton nodded. Naruto found himself surprised that Ton-Ton seemed to genuinely understand the human language and able to respond. He felt bad that he himself could not understand Ton-Ton while it could understand him.  
Naruto picked up Ton-Ton and started running off in the direction Ton-Ton had been pointing its snout. After a minute of running, Ton-Ton snorted. Not really knowing what to do, Naruto put the pig down. After a few bits of sniffing around, Ton-Ton point its snout in the opposite direction, leading Naruto to believe he had overshot Sasuke's location.  
A rustle came from the bushes Ton-Ton had been pointing its snout toward. Ton-  
Ton ran off in the direction of the bushes.  
"Hey, where are you going?" Naruto tried to give chase.  
Shizune emerged from the bushes.  
"Shizune-san!" Naruto shouted in belated surprise.  
Naruto noticed the wound on Shizune's right shoulder, "You're hurt,"  
"It's nothing. I'm fine," Shizune waved a dismissive hand. She had gotten wounded fighting Kabuto and eventually defeating him. Luckily, the wound looked worse than it really was.  
"What do should we do?" Naruto asked curiously. With adults like Shizune and Ranma around, it was best to listen to them and do what they said. They generally knew better and most likely knew more about what was going on at the moment anyway.  
Shizune noticed the boy was looking to her for guidance, "We will look for Sasuke. Orochimaru is still out there and we don't want him finding Sasuke before we do,"  
"Okay," Naruto nodded.  
She looked down at Ton-Ton.  
"Ton-Ton, it's good to see you," Shizune said to the pig, "Have you picked up on Sasuke's scent?"  
Ton-Ton nodded.  
Shizune picked up Ton-Ton with her one good arm, "Okay, lead the way,"  
Naruto followed after Shizune as she ran off. They only ran for a short distance before coming to a brief halt. "Why'd we stop?" he asked.  
Shizune place Ton-Ton down and crouched low and assumed a stealthy posture, Naruto following suit. Ton-Ton simply walked off as if to find some truffles, the pig having done its job and now in need of something to do.  
Shizune gently snuck up to a bush and pushed it to the side. A short distance away, she saw Sasuke facing three young individuals. Shizune recognized them to be Neji, Lee, and Shikamaru. She sensed tension between Sasuke and the group of three, as if they were just about to do battle at any second.  
"I wonder what's going on here," she asked herself curiously.  
She felt something move right by her and suddenly saw Naruto running out from the bushes and toward the group. "Hey, guys, what's going on here?" Naruto smiled happily.  
"Naruto," everyone said in unison and surprise.  
Naruto approached the group. Having no idea of why Shikamaru and his team is there in the first place, he saw it as nothing more than meeting up with a few friends for a chat. But before he could do so, he needed to get something out in the open first.  
"Sasuke, there's something very important I need to tell you," Naruto said.  
"What?" Sasuke said acidly.  
"You're completely blind and ignorant about what's going on," Naruto stated, "Your brother, Itachi, is nothing like who you believe him to be,"  
"You know nothing about my brother," Sasuke spat.  
"Yeah, I do," Naruto answered, "Ranma and I actually met up with him on several occasions during our trip out here. As frightening as your brother may be, he's not an evil person,"  
Shikamaru perked an eyebrow. All this was news to him. His team's main objective was to assassinate Sasuke for defecting but there seemed to be a chance that Naruto might make an action like that unnecessary. He made a motion with his arm to have his team stand by to let the situation unfold.  
"I'm sorry to say this but your whole clan was murdered long before Itachi took them out," Naruto began to say.  
Shizune emerged from the bushes, "What Naruto is saying is correct,"  
"Lie," Sasuke sneered, "You were never there. I was there. I saw everything that happened,"  
"They weren't your parents," Shizune said, "Itachi had witnessed your real parents' death when you were just a little baby, long before you were even old enough to remember,"  
"Let's pretend what you say is true," Sasuke laughed, figuring he should humor them, "Even if they weren't my real parents, they had raised me. To me, they're my parents,"  
Naruto scratched his head, "Hm, I never really thought about it that way,"  
"Relatively speaking, you're right," Shizune stepped in, "But to you, they're more like your adoptive parents. But what you need to know is that they had every intention of killing you and your brother as soon as you started to develop your Sharingan abilities,"  
Shizune felt odd saying what she was saying. She had no idea if what she was saying was true. What she knew she had heard from Ranma. There were no cold hard facts that all of this was true. She simply chose to believe Ranma one hundred percent based on what he said.  
"I don't care what you say, I intend to kill my brother, even if I die doing so," Sasuke answered calmly, knowingly.  
Naruto turned toward Shizune, "Maybe it's too late. Maybe Itachi waited too long to have this revealed to his brother that Sasuke can see nothing beyond that of revenge and that there no turning back for him,"  
"Right now, there's a good chance your brother is fighting the very same murderers of your real parents," Shizune said, gesturing in a direction behind her, "He's the only thing that's preventing the Akatsuki Organization from killing you and stealing your Sharingan ability,"  
"Lies!" Sasuke said.  
Naruto felt sad.  
"Wow, it seems like you've got more problems than I do,"

"Man, that's one big bird,"  
Ranma whistled as he found himself looking at the underbelly of a giant condor. The condor was hovering around a hundred feet above him and Itachi. It had the body the size of the giant frog, Gamabunta, and a wingspan as big as the giant snake, Manda, is long. The condor itself basically dwarfed the Manda and Gamabunta. Massive gusts of winds were being generated with every flap of its gigantic wings.  
None of the other Akatsuki members could be found, having dispersed to search for Naruto and seek out their leader to help even the score. They were pretty confident that finding and bringing Himitsu into battle with them will help even the score. The Akatsuki was comprised of very smart individuals. Unfortunately, those individuals had completely underestimated Ranma's abilities, much like the way someone would underestimate Nine-Tails should he actually exist in human form. The fact that Ranma was human made them believe he possessed human capabilities. It was most unfortunate that it took the death of three of their members before they realized this.  
A short distance away from Itachi and Ranma was the dead body of the bald man, his bo staff laying nearby. Not a far ways off was the dead body of the giant of a man. Both of them had been killed by Itachi's own hands but not without the help of Ranma. Both of them had attempted to attack Ranma simultaneously, only to be defeated with ease when by two very well timed counter attacks on Ranma's behalf. Ranma found out too late that Itachi had no qualms about killing his opponents even after they had been knocked unconscious.  
Ranma had attempted to stop Itachi from killing them but couldn't. He found himself caught between a rock and a hard place. If he wanted to save their lives, he would need to stop Itachi and knock him out. But if that happened, then Itachi would surely be killed since Ranma was only one person and it was beyond his capabilities to fight off members of the Akatsuki while protecting an unconscious Itachi. When Ranma realized that there was really nothing he could do to really prevent Itachi from killing members of the Akatsuki, he figured it was best to let it be. Shortly after Ranma managed to incapacitate two of his opponents with ease and Itachi finishing them off and ending their lives afterwards, the Akatsuki realized that Ranma was too much to handle without help, that he was impossible to defeat at close range.  
Standing on the head of the giant condor was the woman with long blond hair, a look of utter annoyance on her face. It seemed like the only way to deal with Ranma was through long-ranged attacks, something the blond woman excelled at.  
"This has definitely gotten complicated," Ranma said, "I didn't know some of the Akatsuki guys can summon creatures," "All of us can," Itachi stated, shield his eyes from the dust being blown by the winds being generated.  
Ranma said, "I wonder why they didn't summon all their animal helpers. We probably would've gotten overwhelmed really easily,"  
"Because each summon hates one another," Itachi smirked, "If two or more animals were summoned, they would fight amongst themselves and not help out instead. Most animals don t work well with one another and no more than one should be out at the same time,"  
"Ah," Ranma felt somewhat relieved.  
Hundred of bolts-like projectiles rained down from the sky above, the woman using her own hair to send the projectiles toward the ground below.  
Ranma and Itachi found themselves jumping in opposite directions to dodge the attacks, the rain of projectiles aimed mostly toward Itachi.  
The blond woman had realized it was best to take out Itachi first since that meant she could concentrate on Ranma afterwards and that meant there was a chance she would still live should she be defeated. She believed Ranma seemed to value life more than Itachi.  
Itachi continued to dodge and hop backwards as hundreds of bolt-like projectiles rained down upon him, missing him by inches every time.  
Damn, she's after only me, Itachi realized. Because he and Ranma were out in the open, Itachi had no place to take cover from the barrage of projectiles. As he continued to dodge, he realized he was in deep trouble, that he would eventually be unable to continuously dodge the attacks.  
Itachi was slammed by something large from the side and fell to the ground, tumbling a few times before a large object came resting on top of him. Ranma watched from a short distance away as Itachi's life was spared, the dead body of the giant acting as a fleshy shield. When Ranma had realized Itachi was the blond woman's main target and that he would eventually mess up and be killed by her projectiles, he took it upon himself to throw the dead giant on top of him, to have his dead body shield him from her attacks.  
Blood splattered every where as the raining projectiles ripped into the dead giant's body. However, Ranma's plan worked for it shielded Itachi from the attacks.  
Knowing that he only had a small window of time to counter attack before the giant's body would no longer shield Itachi from the projectiles, Ranma extended a hand toward the underbelly of the giant condor.  
"Mouko Takabisha!"

new stuff 4/22

Naruto looked up at the sky when he felt something unsettling in the pit of his stomach.  
"How come it feels like something bad is going to happen?" Naruto asked aloud.  
Everyone stopped for a moment to look up in the general direction of Naruto's gaze. They saw a massive shadow descend from above. They had no idea what they were looking at from below but noticed something bad was going to happen, the sounds of breaking branches could be heard emanating from above. Shizune, the most experienced individual there and able to sense danger before anyone else, shouted, "Lookout! Get away from here!"  
Little did Shizune know that she above her was the earthly-bound spiraling body the giant condor that Ranma had knocked out of the sky with a well-aimed ki-blast.  
Her voice seemed to instantly make everyone there very alert, providing them just enough time to realize they were in danger and in need to get away from where they were standing as fast as possible. Everyone, reacting on the instinct of self-preservation, quickly dashed out of the way as a this massive body crashed down in the general area where they all had been standing a second ago.  
The ground shook violently as hundreds of tons of body mass crashed upon it. Trees flew in outward directions as the body of the giant summoned condor crashed to the ground, earth rippling along the ground like a wake, sliding along the ground a few hundred feet to an eventual halt.  
Naruto found himself alone. After a good ten seconds of sprinting in some random direction, he bothered to stop and check out what he had been running from in the first place. Looking back, he saw nothing but forest. He had run deep enough into the forest to no longer be able to see what had occurred in the first place.  
Turning around, Naruto decided to head back and find out from what he had run away. He only took a few steps before he heard a rustle from some nearby bushes. Glancing over, he caught sight of Ton-Ton as the pig emerged from what seemed like its hiding space.  
"Ton-Ton," Naruto said.  
He regarded the pig a moment, wondering if Ton-Ton had noticed the incoming danger and ran away well before even Shizune noticed it and warned them. "Do you know what's going on here?" Naruto asked dumbly, completely forgetting he couldn't understand Ton-Ton even if the pig did have an answer. He slapped his forehead in embarrassment, "Nevermind,"  
He wondered what he should do.  
"I lost track of Shizune and the others, can you help me find them?" Naruto asked.  
Ton-Ton nodded, sniffing at the air for a second before pointing its snout in a southern direction and snorting toward Naruto.  
Naruto picked up, Ton-Ton, "Okay, lead the way. I'll carry you and continue heading in that direction. If you need to change course, just snort in my ear and I'll stop,"  
Ton-Ton snorted in annoyance, as if it found Naruto's comment insulting. Ton-  
Ton was the world's greatest tracking pig. It didn't need a second whiff.  
Naruto, carrying Ton-Ton, ran in the general direction where the giant shadow had crashed upon the earth. His heart was racing as he wondered what was going on and tried to make heads or tails of everything.  
Naruto wondered something to himself.  
"Man, there's so much chaos. What would Ranma do in a situation like this?"  
"Heh, that was kinda fun,"  
Ranma had a grin on his face as he and Itachi ran in the direction of the downed condor. The blond woman was nowhere to be seen, having remained on top of the condor the entire time even when it fell from the sky.  
"You seem to be enjoying yourself," Itachi commented. He didn't know whether to be glad or afraid that Ranma seemed amused at what was going on. It made Itachi wonder if Ranma was a psychopath that didn't seem to understand or care about all the chaos around him or if he was actually well experienced in dealing with such situations that he was happy from the sense of nostalgia.  
Itachi believed it was the former more than the latter. There definitely seemed like something was wrong with Ranma.  
"This is kinda fun," Ranma grinned, "I haven't fought giant creatures in quite a while. It brings back memories,"  
"What, you've fought creatures like this before?" Itachi was pretty surprised. It seemed like his original impression was wrong, that he was happy because of the latter, not the former, that he was happy because of a sense of nostalgia.  
Ranma said, "Well, not really. I've fought these things called EVAs,"  
"And what are these so-called 'EVAs'?" Itachi asked.  
"They're about the same size as that giant bird I took out but powerful," Ranma commented.  
Itachi said nothing. Did Ranma not consider that giant creatures strong? If that was the case, what would Ranma consider powerful?  
"An EVA can withstand a ki-blast ten times more powerful than the one I just shot out and still remain standing," Ranma said, "EVAs are nasty things to fight," Of course, he didn't bother to mention that when he had struck an EVA with a Seppukku version of his ki-blast, the EVA was merely incapacitated and needed time to regenerate its mostly-destroyed body. Ranma had been recalling the time when he and Ryoga had decided to visit Nerv Headquarters after they had found the nanban mirror to say their goodbyes and had found the base under attack by several giant white EVAs.  
"So you have experience fighting things of immense power?" Itachi asked. Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I've fought several EVAs at the same time and still came out on top,"  
Itachi smiled. For some odd reason, he felt this odd kinship toward Ranma that he would never admit. Itachi was basically fighting against overwhelming odds and the thought of hearing someone having overcome overwhelming circumstances as well was pretty reassuring. Little did Itachi realize that his old self started to surface, replacing the cold and generally heartless facade he was used to having up all the time. It was not to be expected for a person's true self usually started to show when they are under extreme circumstance and stress.  
For a brief moment, Itachi saw Ranma as a brethren in battle.  
"I wonder where the rest of the Akatsuki are," Ranma commented, "I wonder if we will bump into them in the forest soon,"  
"I wonder that myself," Itachi stated.  
"Hopefully they don't find your brother or Naruto before we do," Ranma said flatly.  
Itachi sneered in annoyance. Why did Ranma have to go reminding him of something like that? It had never really crossed his mind the terrifying thought of what he might come across if the Akatsuki come across Sasuke before he and Ranma do.  
"We should split up," Ranma said, "That way, there's a better chance of one of us finding your brother and be able to protect him. If you find him before I do, that might make for an interesting family reunion, that's for sure,"  
Itachi didn't even bother to think about what would happen if he met up with his brother first. Right now, what really mattered was finding his brother before the Akatsuki did. He would deal with his brother's hatred when he needed to cross that bridge. If things turned out badly, he could probably knock his brother out and bury him underground so that he would be harder to find for the Akatsuki while he and Ranma dealt with the Akatsuki in the meanwhile.  
"If you find him before I do..." Itachi began.  
"I know," Ranma said, "I'll watch over him,"  
Itachi was about to say thanks but found himself unable to say. He had never said thanks in his life before that he didn't even know how to show gratitude even thought it was definitely due.  
Ranma cast Itachi a quick glance, looking deeply into Itachi's eyes for a moment, as if reading into his soul.  
"If you bump into Naruto, make sure you watch over him as well," Ranma said sternly.  
Itachi nodded, "I will,"  
Ranma smiled, "I know. Good luck. I'm off to look for Naruto and your brother,"  
With that said, Ranma dashed off in a full sprint, overtaking Itachi and disappearing into the woods ahead of them. Itachi found himself almost speechless at Ranma's sprinting speed. He had known Ranma was fast but never suspected him to be that fast. It was as if Ranma had finally decided to show some indications of what his true speed was for a change.  
Ranma dashed through the woods, calling out Naruto's and Sasuke's name, "Naruto! Sasuke! I know you guys are out here! Where are you guys?" He felt like an idiot shouting out like that for he had no clue whatsoever as to the two boys' whereabouts. For all he knew, they might not even be still in the surrounding forest. Ranma caught some movement out of the corner of his eye and quickly dodged when he sensed something flying straight toward his head. Unable to stop in time to dodge, Ranma swatted the incoming projectile with his hand.  
As he came to a halt, he looked at the object in his hand. It was a dagger with this weird piece of paper attached to it.  
"Who the heck threw this?" he asked himself. He noticed the paper was burning.  
Ranma's eyes widened as he recognized that the paper was much like the explosive wards he and Naruto had been messing around with when they accidentally blew up a backpack full of them and causing a massive crater.  
"Yikes!" Ranma said. He quickly used his free hand to smolder out the burning explosive ward. When he was done smoldering, he looked at the ward and noticed that it probably would have exploded in his hand a half second later had he not taken action in time.  
Satisfied that he was no longer in immediate danger, Ranma turned his gaze in the direction from where the dagger had been thrown. He looked at the dagger in his hand and contemplated throwing it, positive that he would have struck his assailant but chose against it. He didn't want to accidentally kill someone for he had no real idea where a vital point would be located since the Akatsuki Organization's members varied in sizes.  
"Come out," Ranma said in a stern voice, "Let's just fight and get this over with. I'm in a hurry,"  
From out of the shadows of the forest, around thirty feet away, emerged the man Ranma had labeled as the blind swordsman. The man possessed now eyes and was dressed in a what looked like this world's traditional samurai attire with two sheathed swords that rested one of his hips. "You caught my throwing knife," the blind man said, "I'm impressed,"  
"Thanks," Ranma said, grinning.  
The blind man proceeded to unsheathe this swords, one for each hand.  
Ranma casually walked over toward a nearby tree, leaning against it, "You do know that I'm very strong, right? Considering I took out your fellow comrades with basically no effort, you might be biting off far more than you can chew trying to fight me one-on-one,"  
Ranma smiled as he stuck the dagger into the side of the tree. He smirked when he noticed the man seemed to drink in the sounds all around him, even reacting minutely to take into account that Ranma had just stuck a dagger in the side of a tree.  
"Do you intend to summon a giant animal like that blond group comrade of yours?" Ranma asked.  
"No," the blind man said. This made Ranma wonder if the man could summon a giant animal in the first place or if he wanted to fight one-on-one against someone like Ranma. Whatever the case, Ranma didn't really care. Actually, he preferred that the man not have the ability to summon a giant animal. Afterall, dealing with one person is better than dealing with a person and his or her summoned helper animal.  
"You know what's funny?" Ranma smiled, "I originally thought you would be one of the harder opponents to deal with simply because you don't rely on sight like most people do,"  
The blind man smiled, accepting that compliment. He should consider it a compliment especially if it was coming from someone as strong as Ranma.  
"Unfortunate, it seems like you're a several years too early to be fighting me," Ranma stated flatly, "This is a fact, not an opinion,"  
"Oh?" the blind man was intrigued, "And what makes you believe something like that?"  
"Well, I have reason to believe you're not crazy because I doubt a group like the Akatsuki Organization can become as powerful a group as it currently is if it has members that are crazy," Ranma said, "Therefore, you must not be crazy to be challenging me in a one-on-one battle. It seems you're pretty confident in your ability to perceive your surroundings and basically sense my whereabouts and actions,"  
"And what makes you think I don't rely on something like sound to determine your location and actions?" the blind man smirked, "It's pretty easy to determine your location since I can hear even your muscles contracting and releasing with every movement you make,"  
"If you relied on sound," Ranma chuckled, "Then you'd be totally screwed. I can move faster than the speed of sound. You would therefore not hear me for I would be able to close the distance between you and me quicker than it would take for the sound to reach you. The mere fact that you were able to determine my location and throw a dagger at me while I was sprinting means you don't rely on sound,"  
Ranma could move way faster than the speed of sound, capable of moving so fast that opponents could see ghostly images of him because their eyes aren't capable of processing his speed quickly enough. Unfortunately, moving at such speed expended tremendous amounts of stamina that would being to tired him out before long. Moving a roughly the speed of sound didn't tiring him much at all though. He happened to have been running at roughly the speed of sound at the time when he had been attacked meaning it would've been impossible to pinpoint his location and where he would be based sound.  
"For you to be able to pinpoint my location while I was running at faster than the speed of sound means you don't rely on your hearing," Ranma said.  
The blind man smiled, "You're very observant,"  
"You must be very confident in your ability to sense me," Ranma grinned, "As a matter of fact, you must have an extremely wide sense of range since your lack of sight means you would most likely have more acute senses,"  
The blind man simply smiled. His felt his heart racing at the thought of fighting such a worthy opponent. While he had no intention of losing, he knew he would feel at peace dying to such a formidable opponent should he be felled.  
"Have you ever felt fear?" Ranma asked curiously.  
"And why do you ask that?" the blind man asked, a bit confused at such a random question. "Well, I have the sneaking suspicious you will feel fear when you find out what I'm capable of," Ranma chuckled, "Y'see, there's this rival I know. His name is Ryoga,"  
The blind man seemed rather patient, "And what about this rival of yours?"  
"Well, Ryoga's extremely strong," Ranma continued on, "He's so strong that I'm actually scared at the thought of having to fight him when I go back home in my current human form. That's because I could barely beat him when I could fly, had an innate AT field, and possessed a physically stronger and faster body than the one I have now,"  
Ranma was in the body of a teenager, afterall. "Anyway, that stuff's not important," Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "What I'm getting at is that I'm used to constantly fighting against a guy that's incomprehensibly powerful,"  
"Just because you're used to fighting someone that's strong, that does not mean you should take me lightly," the blind man commented.  
Ranma shrugged, "True, but there is one thing you don't know. Ryoga's ability to sense is probably a hundred times better than your ability. Ryoga can sense things from as much as miles away if he really tried,"  
The blind man laughed. No one had such an acute ability to sense. "Now, because I fight against Ryoga all the time, or at least whenever he's not lost, having to deal with someone with such an ability is extremely troublesome, especially when he's about as fast as I am and almost infinitely stronger," Ranma continued on, "Basically, getting close to a guy like Ryoga is very hard,"  
"And your point?" the blind man seemed somewhat impatient now.  
Ranma took a deep breath, "Well, I've learned how to deal with a person's ability to sense like that of Ryoga's. It's actually really easy,"  
Ranma closed his eyes as he basically willed all his battle aura from his body, concealing the aura that would give away his presence.  
The blind man could be seen getting in a battle stance as if he suddenly lost track of Ranma and where he was, his visage showing a genuine sign of fear for a moment. He recovered his composure within a second when he pinpointed Ranma's location when he heard Ranma's steady heartbeat.  
"You see?" Ranma smiled, "I know how to conceal my aura, making it basically impossible for someone to sense my whereabouts. You know what that means? Your ability to sense me is how completely obsolete, all thanks to my constantly fighting with Ryoga,"  
The blind man sneered. Perhaps Ranma was right, that he did bite off far more than he could chew. He never anticipated that Ranma knew how to completely negate his special ability of sense.  
Ranma flicked a finger against the blade of the dagger embedded in the tree next to him.  
The blind man, focused on sound, turned his attention toward the dagger. The sound of the blade reverberated crisply. After a second, he realized he made the fatal mistake of allowing himself to be distracted. When the sound disappeared, the blind man tried to focus on the sound of Ranma's heartbeat again to pinpoint his opponent's location, hoping against hope that Ranma wasn't in the process of charging toward him faster than the speed of sound.  
After a second of just standing there, the man came to the realization that he could not hear Ranma's heartbeat.  
"Impossible," the blind man said to himself. He knew there was no way to mask one's own sounds unless they constantly moved at faster than sound. Something didn't make sense. This left him in a state of confusion as he tried to figure out how Ranma not only masked his own presence but the sounds he gave off as well.  
Little did the blind man know that, Ranma had used sound of the dagger to momentarily distract the blind man before running away, all the while concealing his presence to prevent the blind man from being able to chase after him.  
The blind man simply stood there, trying to figure out what happened to Ranma, completely unaware that Ranma was no longer there.

new stuff 4/24

Kabuto, weak from the Shizune's poisons coursing through his veins, knew he was done for. He only had a few minutes to live. There was too much poison in his body. He could feel his heart slowing down and knew it would eventually stop.  
"What a horrible fate," Kabuto said weakly, clutching at his chest. The poison felt like a terrible heartburn, slowly growing larger and larger, already consuming most of his upper chest area.  
He had underestimated Shizune's skills. He didn't realize she was so skilled in the art of poison. What really annoyed him was how she managed to create an opening in his guard just long enough to poison him decisively. It was all Ranma's fault. When Ranma had defeated him in that restaurant so long ago, it had instilled this great subconscious fear within Kabuto of Ranma, so much so that when Shizune had pretended Ranma had showed up, he couldn t help but react simply out of fear, allowing himself to be distracted long enough for her to sway the battle decisively in her favor.  
While he had been poisoned, Shizune fought him for a short while longer, applying even more poison to his body, enough of a dosage that would surely end his life before leaving him be and heading off to look for Naruto and Ranma. Kabuto's death was absolutely inevitable.  
As he slowly staggered through the forest, he looked down at the ground and noticed a bloody stump that looked like a leg. Just a short distance away, Kabuto noticed an arm.  
He dismissed the thought that there was someone about in the forest with only one leg and one arm. But then again, maybe one person only had one leg missing while another person had an arm missing. It didn't matter since all he cared about right how was himself and his eventual death.  
Kabuto heard a painful groan from nearby. The voice sounded familiar. He had heard it plenty of time when Orochimaru was screaming from the pain he felt in his arms after his battle with the Third Hokage.  
"Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto called out.  
He looked at the ground where he saw a large trail of blood. It looked as if a bloody mop had been moved along the ground, like something bleeding was being dragged along the ground.  
Kabuto followed the trail where it disappeared around the side of a tree. Weakly walking over, he peered over the side of the tree and was horrified at what he saw.  
Lying on his ground was the upper portion of Orochimaru's body. His entire lower body from when waist down was gone. Intestines could be seen through the gaping hole that was the missing lower body. One of his arms was missing as well.  
Momentarily forgetting of his own inevitable death, Kabuto staggered forward and knelt down by his Master.  
"O-Orochimaru, w-what happened?" Kabuto said, unaware of how weak his very own voice was.  
Orochimaru seemed to be in a state of shock, what remaining of his body shivering violently. His eyes met Kabuto's but there showed to be no signs of recognition.  
Kabuto noticed the dirt on one of Orochimaru's elbows and, judging by the trail of blood on the ground, surmised that he had been trying to crawl somewhere.  
Looking in the general direction where Orochimaru had been crawling, Kabuto realized what his Master had been trying to do. A short distance away there lay lifelessly Orochimaru's lower body, one of its legs messing.  
Orochimaru had been trying to crawl over to his missing lower body before he died. To do something like that was perfectly natural. It was much like the way a person who had been gutted and saw their insides falling out through their stomach would make an attempt to put their entrails back inside their body. "What happened? Who did this?" Kabuto asked.  
Orochimaru did not answer. He was so far in shock that he didn't have any idea what was happening or even who he was.  
Kabuto looked down and realized that he had to do something and quickly.  
"I think I can save him,"

Orochimaru opened his eyes, confused as to where he was. He took a moment to look around and inspect his surroundings.  
After a moment, he realized what his predicament was, that he had been fatally wounded and was going to die. He quickly took down at his body to confirm that what he knew was true but was surprised at what he saw.  
He wasn t fatally wounded anymore. He found himself looking at his lower body, as if what had happened to him had actually never happened, as if he was waking up from a terrible nightmare where he had the misfortune of bumping into Himitsu.  
He reached out to touch his lower leg, to make sure that they were actually there, and notice something immediately, that he had only reached out with one arm. Looking over at his other arm, he noticed it was missing. Looking at one of his legs, he noticed that it was different from the one he last remembered.  
A bit confused and disoriented, Orochimaru looked toward the side where he was surprised to see the lifeless body of his subordinate, Kabuto. He noticed that Kabuto was missing one of his legs.  
Looking down at his own leg, the leg that he recalled as having been ripped off by Himitsu, Orochimaru put two and two together and realized what had happened. Somehow, Kabuto had stumbled upon Orochimaru and had given his life to save him, even giving his own leg to take place of Orochimaru's missing leg. However, it seemed like the act of saving Orochimaru's life was beyond Kabuto's abilities for he was unable to safely attach Orochimaru's arm before he died, his life ended due to the combination of being poisoned and expending an immense amount of energy to safely attach Orochimaru's lower body and replacing the leg with his very own.  
Orochimaru looked at his missing arm and noticed that it had been closed off, that it was nothing more than a stump now, Kabuto having managed to close up the gaping wound and stop the bleeding.  
"You've made a noble sacrifice," Orochimaru smirked, "As expected from someone like you, Kabuto,"  
It was the closest to saying 'thanks' as Orochimaru was going to get.  
Orochimaru stood up for a moment, staggering slightly when he felt very disoriented. He fell back down to his knees and coughed a few times, vomiting something out of his mouth.  
Looking down at the mess he had made, Orochimaru realized he had vomited some strong poison from his body.  
He cast a glance toward Kabuto's lifeless form and noticed the flushed look on the young man's face, a frozen image of what he looked like before death finally consumed him. Just by looking at him, Orochimaru ascertained that Kabuto seemed to have been poisoned the whole time when he was saving his Master's life.  
"Fool!" Orochimaru spat toward Kabuto, "You passed some of your poison on to me!"  
Kabuto, poisoned, had given Orochimaru his own leg. Some of the poison then entering Orochimaru's body because of it. However, Kabuto, aware of Orochimaru's resilience against poisons, knew Orochimaru would be able to fight off the poison that Kabuto himself could not fight off. Besides, Kabuto didn't have enough time to attach Orochimaru's lower body, fetch his missing arm and leg and attach them as well. With so little time left, Kabuto had chosen to give Orochimaru his own leg and seal up the wound what was his missing arm. Kabuto would have given Orochimaru his own arm as well but it was impossible because he needed both of his arms to do an arm transplant.  
Orochimaru, now slightly poisoned, shook the cobwebs from his head and headed off, disappearing into the forest, never bothering to look back and casting one last glance at Kabuto and his heroic sacrifice in saving his Master's life.  
He didn't manage to walk more than thirty steps before he heard a noise from a nearby bushes.  
From out of the bushes emerged Ranma.  
Ranma, busy looking around for Sasuke and Himitsu, happened to cross paths with Orochimaru.  
"Orochimaru, you're still alive? I guess you got lucky because I figured your opponent would've kicked your ass," Ranma grinned, "You must've ran away or something because I doubt you can take on a person like her,"  
Ranma, having gone off on his own before he saw the battle between Orochimaru and Himitsu, had no idea what Himitsu had done to Orochimaru nor of Kabuto's sacrifice.  
Ranma noticed Orochimaru's missing arm.  
"Heh, it looks like you didn't walk away from that fight completely intact," Ranma grinned. He was about to make a pun about how Himitsu somehow managed to unarm Orochimaru but figured it was a stupid pun and decided against it.  
Orochimaru continued to eye Ranma critically, curious as to what Ranma intended to do and exactly how he was going to be able to avoid dealing with Ranma. Scarily enough, Orochimaru felt that dealing with Ranma would be just as one-sided a battle as dealing with Himitsu.  
Ranma bent over and picked up a small rock.  
"Would you happen to know where I can find Naruto or Sasuke?" Ranma asked curiously, flicking the rock up and down in one hand.  
"No," Orochimaru answered coldly, "And even if I did-"  
"I know, you won't bother to tell me anyway," Ranma made a flapping mouth motion with his free hand, "Clich bad guy answer. Well, if that's the case, you're useless to me conscious,"  
Without warning, Ranma threw the rock at Orochimaru before Orochimaru had a chance to even see the incoming projectile, let alone react.  
Orochimaru fell down to the ground unconscious.  
Ranma turned around and disappeared back into the darkness of the forest.

As Ranma ran through the forest, he caught sight of some movement but had sensed no hostile intent. This led him to believe this it must be one of the children or perhaps Shizune or Ton-Ton.  
Ranma came to a sliding halt before turning around and turned his attention in the direction where he had briefly seen some movement.  
"Who goes there?" Ranma called out, "Is that you, Naruto?"  
From out of the bushes emerged Shizune.  
"Shizune, we meet again," Ranma gave her a warm smile. He noticed a small wound by her shoulder, "You okay?"  
"Ranma, you're here," she said, a look of relief on her face, "Thank God you're here. Yes, I'm fine. Do you know what the heck's going on around here?"  
Shizune, after having escaped from being crushed under the massive weight of the giant condor that had crashed on the ground, had gone back to original area where she had last seen Naruto and the others and saw no one around. She was just about to head off to check out exactly what had crashed on the ground in the first place, the creature have slid along the ground a few hundred yards, when she bumped into Ranma.  
Ranma said, "Whatcha mean?"  
"I'm trying to figure it out," Shizune said, "Some giant thing crashed not a few minutes ago. It's as if the sky is falling,"  
Ranma wondered if Shizune was referring to the giant condor the blond woman had summoned that he had shot out of the sky. Knowing his luck, he wouldn t be all that surprised that the giant bird crashed in an area where Shizune or Naruto or whoever happened to be during impact.  
"Have you seen Naruto?" Ranma asked, "We need to find Naruto and Sasuke. A few remaining Akatsuki are somewhere nearby looking for them as well. I'm hoping to find the two of them before the Akatsuki do,"  
"A few?" Shizune asked, "Did they split up or something?"  
Ranma shook his head, "Nah. There are only a few left. Itachi and I took out four of them,"  
"You two took out four of them already?" Shizune seemed in a state of shock. She heard stories of how strong individual members of the Akatsuki were. They were basically as powerful as Itachi and Orochimaru and such. While Ranma was extremely powerful, even she had trouble believing he and Itachi could fight against such odds. How could Ranma and Itachi manage to take out half the Akatsuki Organization by themselves?  
Ranma said, "Actually, three of them. There's this blond woman that went down with this giant condor I knocked outta the sky. I have no idea if she's still up and about or not,"  
"Wait, that was you that caused that?" Shizune gasped. She could've sworn she discerned the giant shadow of a massive flying bird moments before she warned everyone and ran for safety before it crashed on the ground by where they were. Was that giant bird's falling to the ground Ranma's doing?  
Ranma smiled proudly, "If something massive and expected happened, it was probably because of me,"  
"You need to be more careful," Shizune told him sternly, "I was with Naruto and the others at the time and we almost got crushed,"  
"Oh," Ranma said. He then scratched his head, "Wait, and just how the heck do you expect me to be more careful? It's not like I can control where something lands after I shot it out of the air. It's not like I'm God or something to be able to control every aspect of everything,"  
Shizune ignored the comment and said, "I was with Naruto. I don't know where he and Sasuke are,"  
"We better go find them," Ranma suggested hurriedly, "I wanna find them before the others find them, provided they haven't already. I have no idea what they plan on doing with Naruto if they find him, but they intend to outright kill Sasuke in cold-blood if they find Sasuke,"  
"Why would they kill Sasuke? What does he have to do with all of this?" Shizune asked, "They intend to kill him just because of his association with Itachi?"  
Ranma nodded, "Seems so. I guess people are messed up in the head like that,"  
Shizune pointed in a south western direction, "I'm not too sure, but I know I saw Sasuke take off in that direction just as we all dispersed moments before that giant bird crashed on the ground,"  
"Alright, let's get going," Ranma started heading off. As he walked off, he caught sight of three individuals emerging from some nearby shadows. Ranma and Shizune recognized them immediately as Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee.  
All three boys had this look of confusion on their faces. Shikamaru seemed to hide it really well, a sign of good leadership. However, he was still an inexperienced leader and things were unfolding faster than he could handle well.  
Ranma, while glad to see that the boys were okay, was a bit sad to see neither Naruto nor Sasuke, the two individuals he want to find and fast.  
"Glad to see you kids are okay," Ranma stated, "Have any of you guys seen either Naruto or Sasuke? It's really important that we find them. They're in grave danger,"  
"What kind of danger?" Shikamaru asked. This was news to him. "The Akatsuki Organization intends to kill Sasuke," Ranma said flatly, completely unaware of Shikamaru's team's original task of assassinating Sasuke in the first place, "And if they catch Naruto, he will most likely be killed so they could remove the power of the Nine-Tails from his body,"  
Hearing this for the first time, Shikamaru wondered how he was supposed to react to news like that. "Do you know why is Sasuke is here in the first place?" Shikamaru asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, he defected from Hidden Leaf Village because he found out his older brother, Itachi, is here. He wants to kill his older brother. The problem is that he's not aware of everything that's going on. His brother's has been actually trying to save his life. Things are really getting messed up,"  
"Can you please explain to us?" Shikamaru asked.  
"I really don't have time," Ranma said impatiently.  
"We would really appreciate it," Shikamaru said, "That we can try and help out,"  
Lee and Neji gave Shikamaru an odd look. Their original mission was to find Sasuke and assassinate him. From the looks of things, it seemed like Shikamaru was ready to throw the mission away, just like that, based on whatever Ranma said. Ranma quickly explained the story as Shikamaru listened intently.  
"I have no real idea why you're here in the first place," Ranma said, "It's probably because Sasuke defected to chase after his brother since he found out where Itachi was and you're here to bring him back to your village, right? Well, whatever the case, you need to find and convince Sasuke that he needs to abandon his mission to kill his brother. Slap some sense into him and drag his butt back to Hidden Leaf Village,"  
Shikamaru smiled, "I think we can do that,"  
"Also, if you guys find Naruto, tell him that there are Akatsuki about and to be very careful," Ranma said. He turned toward Shizune, "Shizune, go with the boys. The Akatsuki are really powerful but if the four of you bump into one of them, you guys would be at an advantage if it's four on one,"  
Shizune nodded, "Okay,"  
The three boys looked at one another, a bit surprised. Shizune was a Jounin. Just how high ranking an individual was Ranma to be able to command a Jounin to do his bidding without question? Perhaps that was a good sign, that if Shizune is willing to readily follow his commands, they should as well. She obviously knew something about Ranma they didn't.  
"What about you?" Shizune asked Ranma.  
"I'll be fine," Ranma said, confidently.  
"So, all you want us to do is find Sasuke or Naruto and tell them of what you told us and get them out as far away from here?" Shikamaru asked. He was pretty sure that was exactly what Ranma wanted but wanted to let Shizune hear Ranma giving him those tasks. That way, should Tsunade express extreme anger toward him for deliberately disobeying her direct orders to assassinate Sasuke for his defection, Shizune was a witness and would be able to help come to his defense.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Things are getting really hot around here and it's best you guys get out of here,"  
"What if these Akatsuki people find Sasuke and Naruto before your or Itachi or us?" Shikamaru asked. He wondered if he and his team would stumble upon Naruto or Sasuke fighting for their lives and be forced to jump in to help. These Akatsuki individuals sounded extremely strong.  
Ranma said, "Well, I don't think you guys really need to worry about Naruto. I trained him myself so he should be able to take care of himself against one of them. And hopefully, he's smart enough to realize to run away instead of sticking around if things turn out to be too much for him to handle. Sasuke, on the other hand, we can only hope that they don't find him first,"  
With that said, Ranma headed off in a south western direction.  
Naruto, after a few minutes of running, Ton-Ton still clinging on his back, came across an opening deep in the woods. He came to a sliding halt when he caught sight of Sasuke standing in the middle of the open field, the young boy's back toward him.  
Glancing past Sasuke, Naruto's eyes rested on a person he did not recognize, a shirtless man with these odd-looking tattoos covering his body. They looked a bit like runes, as if the were actual tattooed representations of various seals.  
Sasuke looked to be in a defensive stance, as if he was in the middle of a fight with that tattooed man when Naruto had stumbled upon the two of them.  
"What's going on here?" Naruto called out, gently placing Ton-Ton on the ground. Ton-Ton, having done its task of finding Sasuke's whereabouts, could be seen scurrying away to hide in some nearby bushes. Either that or look for truffles. Sasuke and the tattooed man stopped what they were doing to regard Naruto.  
Naruto noticed that, while he didn't recognize the tattooed man, the tattooed man seemed to recognize him.  
"Well well well, what an interesting surprise," the tattooed man smiled, his voice cold, "Today must be my lucky day. I not only get to kill Itachi's little brother, but the much sought-after Naruto walks right into my hands,"  
"Who the heck are you?" Naruto asked, walking up to stand beside Sasuke. He was about to give Sasuke a piece of his mind about constantly running off but figured now was not the time.  
When he got close enough to Sasuke, he was shocked to see Sasuke's face. The left half of his face was covered with black markings, his left eye now yellow. This surprised Naruto for he had never seen Sasuke like that before. He also noticed that Sasuke's clothes were partially singed, as if he had been caught in an explosion or such.  
"What the?" Naruto said, "What the heck happened to you?"  
Little did Naruto know that he was looking at Sasuke while he seemed to be using an evolved stage of his cursed seal. He had never seen this aspect of Sasuke before and it made him look like a completely different person.  
"I'm glad you're here, Naruto," the tattooed man smiled, "You being here makes our job all the more easier,"  
"Who are you?" Naruto turned his attention from Sasuke and onto the tattooed man, "And how the heck do you know my name?"  
He dismissed the questions he wanted to ask and turned his attention back onto Sasuke, grabbing both of Sasuke's shoulders to get his attention.  
"Sasuke, there's some really important things I need to tell you about your brother," Naruto stated, "Who you think your brother is is completely wrong. He's not the kind of person you really think he is,"  
Sasuke dismissed Naruto's ramblings. Instead, he turned his attention back toward the tattooed man standing a short distance away, ready to fight. He had no real idea who this tattooed man was or where he had come from or why that man wanted to kill him, but he had no intention of not fighting back. Sasuke had been minding his own business, searching around for indications as to where his brother was, when he was viciously attacked by the tattooed man from out of nowhere. He had inquired who the man was or why he was attacking but got no worthwhile answers. It was then that Naruto showed up. Whether not this was a good thing, Sasuke had no idea.  
The man made a gesture with one of his arms toward the two young boys. Both boys noticed a small spherical anomaly around the size of a cherry seemingly appear from out of nowhere between Naruto and Sasuke. It looked much like a small sphere of light.  
Naruto looked curiously at the sudden appearance of that glowing anomaly.  
"What the heck is this?" he asked himself.  
Sasuke, having learned the hard way at what that was, gasped in surprise.  
"Lookout!" Sasuke shouted before leaping backwards to get as far away of the sphere of light as quickly as possible.  
"Huh?" Naruto was slow to react.  
The floating object suddenly exploded outward, consuming Naruto in the process, sending him flying bodily backwards where he struck the ground, tumbling a few times to a sliding halt a good thirty feet away from where he once stood.  
"Ugh," Naruto said, feeling pain shooting up and down his entire body.  
He sat upright and felt disoriented. Despite Sasuke warning him, Naruto had been caught completely unaware, taking the full brunt of the explosion at point-  
blank range.  
"You'll live," the man grinned.  
The tattooed man was confident in his abilities to manipulate his chakra and create objects of explosive properties but keep the power low enough to not kill his intended targets. He was able to control the explosive yield of his explosions perfectly. Naruto looked down at himself and noticed that his clothes were singed much like Sasuke. Seeing this made him realize that Sasuke seemed to have gone through exactly he himself had just experienced.  
Getting back up to his feet, Naruto shook the cobwebs from his head as wondered what he should do now. Whoever this tattooed individual was, it seemed like he had nothing but hostile intentions toward him and Sasuke.  
Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke running around in some seemingly random pattern as a small fist-sized sphere of light could be seen following after Sasuke.  
He wondered what the heck that was and if it was akin to the sphere of light that exploded right by him a second earlier. However, he noticed the object looked different for it wasn't stationary before. It was following after Sasuke like some heat-seeking projectile, following after him at around the same speed as Sasuke continued to try and run away from it.  
Sasuke could be seen jumping over the floating projectile every here and there, throwing shuriken down toward it, his aim true, only to have it just pass right through the projectile and becoming embedded in the ground.  
Sasuke could be seen getting frustrated as he continuously tried to run away and stop the projectile from chasing after him, much to no avail. After a good half minute of continuously running around, Sasuke seemed to realize that going after the projectile wasn't the best course of action, that he should go after the person that had conjured the projectile.  
"Eat this!" Sasuke sneered as he threw several shurikens at the tattooed man.  
The tattooed man grinned as he easily dodged Sasuke's thrown shurikens. The only time he was ever vulnerable was the split second as he conjured his variety of explosive projectiles. Once after he conjured them, he didn't need to worry about controlling them anymore. Sasuke, much like everyone that ever had to deal with the tattooed man and his unique ability, believed that the man directly controlled his following projectiles when he did no such thing. His projectiles basically had a mind of its own. All he had to do was create the whatever special projectile he wanted to create and that was it. Nothing else.  
Naruto, believing that the chasing projectile would most likely explode when it came in contact with Sasuke, figuring that he needed to do something to help his friend out, quickly ran straight toward the tattooed man, intent on attacking him and distracting him from manipulating his projectile from continuously chase after Sasuke.  
"Leave Sasuke alone!" Naruto shouted as he sprinted across the open field and straight toward tattooed man.  
"Heh," the man grinned as he made a motion with his hand.  
As Naruto ran forward, a small sphere of light roughly the size of a cherry again suddenly appeared right in front of him. Unable to immediately stop, Naruto ran right into the object, the explosion consuming him in the process and sending him flying bodily backwards once again.  
Naruto clutched at his chest as pain shot up and down his body. He rolled around the ground a few times as the pain consumed it. He continued to do so for a good ten seconds before the pain subsided and he was able to get his bearings straight.  
Weakly, Naruto got back up to his feet, a defiant look on his face.  
This guy is strong, he thought. How the heck am I going to get near him? He can somehow conjure bombs or things that explode on impact from out of thin air and at where ever he wants. Naruto heard a loud explosion and turned his gaze in the direction of the sound, just in time to catch sight of Sasuke being blown through the air, Sasuke having somehow made a mistake that allowed the chasing projectile to finally reach him and explode for maximum damage.  
Sasuke tumbled on the ground a good thirty feet to a sliding halt.  
The tattooed man smirked, "I figured the younger brother of Itachi would not be so weak,"  
He didn't seem to think much of the cursed seal Sasuke was displaying, believing it was perhaps some special ability of Sasuke's like that of the Sharingan. "Why don't you use your Sharingan ability?" the tattooed man taunted, "It'd like to see what it's capable of,"  
He was actually curious to how something like that would become useful in a situation like this. Heck, he didn't even believe there was anything all that special about such an ability. He had sparred against Itachi before and Itachi had used his Sharingan ability but still lost anyway.  
The Sharingan ability was mostly useful for close-combat and the tattooed man, much like the woman with long blond hair, were experts at ranged combat and would never let anyone get even remotely close to them to be attacked.  
Sasuke could be seen slowly getting to his feet. He looked in far worse shape than Naruto, not because Naruto had a higher resilience due to constant sparring with Ranma, but because the explosion was significantly more powerful than the both explosions that consumed Naruto combined.  
The tattooed man intended to kill Sasuke so he didn't bother holding back that much. The only thing preventing him from outright killing Sasuke with the first blast was his sadistic nature to prolong Sasuke's suffering. It was no fun to end a person's life so quickly. With Naruto, he held back. He didn't want to accidentally kill him because he needed to be kept alive so that the power of the Nine-Tails within him could be extracted.  
Naruto and Sasuke cast a glance at one another, passing a silent message that they both needed to somehow team together to take down their opponent.  
The tattooed man smirked, seemingly reading their thoughts, "Let me guess, you two think you could team up to take me down? I don't think so,"  
The man made several gestures with his hands. A second later, a good thirty spheres of light appeared in a dispersed patters surround the man, hovering there, as if awaiting for something or someone to get within close enough proximity to it so it could fly forward and explode.  
Crossing his arms in front of his chest, the man said, "Let's see what you two've got,"  
Naruto and Sasuke were cautious, wondering what might happen if they got close to the tattooed man and the randomly dispersed floating spheres of light surrounding him.  
Realizing that they shouldn t get close to the man or risk finding out what those floating spheres could do the hard way, they decided to attack from where they were.  
Sasuke and Naruto started throwing what remained of their shuriken toward the man. The man skillfully dodged their incoming projectiles, catching a few in the process to show that it he didn't need to rely on evasion exclusively.  
Naruto felt like he and Sasuke together had their work cut out for them.  
"This guy's going to be hard," Ranma gazed down into the giant hole that had been caused by the giant condor after his had crashed down on the ground and came to a sliding halt. The crater looked to be almost a hundred feet in diameter, perhaps even bigger. It didn't look a crater but instead looked like a pathway that had been dug into the earth.  
There was a large amount of open space, all the surrounding trees having been knocked down by the body of the giant condor. There was no signs of the giant condor that Ranma had shot down out of the sky nor the woman with the long blond hair. Ranma was pretty sure that she did not bail out and had gone down with the giant condor. However, he was pretty sure that she would not had been defeated that easily, most likely having jumped off right before impact.  
"I wonder if she's still around or having gone off to do her own thing," Ranma said to himself, "Could she still be around?"  
His question was answered when he sensed danger from behind. He quickly dove toward the side and rolled on the ground and back onto his feet as bolt-like projectiles sailed right passed where he had been standing a second ago.  
As he turned around to face his opponent, not confident that the blond woman was very much up and about and most likely extremely angry at him for shoot her and her giant summoned condor out of the sky.  
Just as Ranma turned around to face his opponent, he was slammed in the chest with a massive invisible force, the wind driven out of him, and sent flying bodily through the air where he tumbled down the side of the crater to the very bottom.  
"Ugh," Ranma rubbed his chest. It felt like he had been struck by Ryoga. That force had caught him completely unaware.  
He slowly got back up to his feet and coughed a few times, shaking the cobwebs from his head. As he got up, he looked up where he saw two women standing by the top end of the crater looking down on him.  
He found himself gazing up at Himitsu and the blond woman as they gazed down at him.  
"Hm, this is gonna get complicated," Ranma stated.  
"Annoying pest," Himitsu commented coldly, "I dislike dealing with him,"  
"You've dealt with him before?" the blond woman asked her leader.  
"Yes," she answered.  
A short while ago, Himitsu, after having dealt with Orochimaru and leaving him to die, she felt a great impact hit the ground not too far away from where she had been and decided to inspect. Arriving there, she came upon the blond woman as she was dusting herself off in the middle of the crater.  
"What is going on here?" Himitsu had asked her back then.  
"Himitsu-sama, you're here," the blond woman had felt a wave of relief hit her upon seeing her powerful leader. With her around, dealing with Ranma would not be on an even playing field. She quickly got out of the crater and approached Himitsu to tell her of what had happened, of how Ranma and Itachi managed to take out three of their brethren.  
Himitsu didn't seem to show the slightest sign of concern for her fallen brethren. It was understandable because no one in the Akatsuki really cared for one another anyway, most of them uncaring to begin with.  
The blond woman went on to explain that she had been fighting against Ranma with the help of her animal summon only to find Ranma capable of shooting these extremely powerful ki-blasts she had never seen before nor knew how to fight against.  
"This Ranma person has these weird projectiles that you must look out for," the blond woman warned Himitsu, "There's these spherical balls of chakra. Ewo was taken down by just a single hit,"  
Ewo was the name of her giant condor summon. Ranma seemed to have excellent aim for he struck the giant condor right in base of its wing, disabling its use of one of its wings. The crash to the ground was what caused the damage but for a blast to actually hurt the giant condor was something not to be underestimated.  
When the two of them sensed someone approaching, they quickly hid, anticipating that it might be Ranma and Itachi showing up to see if the blond woman was still alive.  
Ranma had showed up but Itachi was nowhere to be seen. Although there was a chance that Itachi might be hiding nearby and Ranma acting as the bait in an attempt for an ambush, both women didn't seem to care and decided to attack Ranma simultaneously.  
Their plan seemed to have worked for they managed to get the jump on Ranma.  
Ranma realizing that he was in danger being on the bottom of the crater, since it didn't give him much room to evade or maneuver, quickly ran up the other side of the crater.  
"He reacts quickly," Himitsu stated.  
She was just about to create a blanket of ki and have it cover the top of the crater while Ranma was still in it and have it suddenly drop down with great force in an attempt to squish Ranma. But alas, his reaction time was quicker than Himitsu's and he managed to get out of a tough situation before she managed to take advantage of the opportunity.  
Ranma was by far the most experienced opponent Himitsu had ever dealt with. She had reason to believe she was overall more powerful in terms of raw power, but his experience in combat made him a very formidable opponent.  
"He's got this weird technique he calls 'Bakusai Tenketsu Revised'," the blond woman said, "It's extremely dangerous. Somehow, he uses it to explode the ground below your feet. The shrapnel the debris turns into is enough to knock you out,"  
"Maybe you, but not me," Himitsu said.  
"The only indication of him using that technique is if he places his hands on the ground," the blond woman said, hoping that that was indeed the tell-tale sign.  
"Use your long range attacks against him," Himitsu came up with a plan.  
"I won't help," the blond woman said, "He's got long ranged attacks also,"  
"Do it!" Himitsu shouted.  
The blond woman did as she was told. She made several hand seal gestures where her hair suddenly started to stand upward toward the sky as thousands of hairs shot upward toward the sky.  
As the hairs hovered the for a second, they suddenly became extremely stiff, turning into bolt-like needles. A second later, the needles started all shooting straight toward Ranma.  
Ranma lunged toward the side as the bolt-like projectiles missed him, tearing into the ground. He continued to dodge and jump around, dodging all the needles. He found himself actually having trouble doing so because the blond woman was very close so it gave him a lot less time to react and dodge.  
"Randomize your attacks," Himitsu stated flatly, "Don't aim just for him,"  
"Okay," the blond woman said.  
The blond woman said a word as a thousand more projectiles formed and started shooting toward Ranma, shooting them at him much like a spray, all of them shooting in his general direction instead of actually at him.  
Ranma found himself having a lot more trouble dodging now, some of the projectiles actually grazing parts of him. The randomness of the incoming projectiles made it a lot harder for him for when he dodged, there was a chance one of the random projectiles was headed right where he landed.  
When the barrage of projectiles stopped, Ranma was bleeding all over. Not a single projectile had actually hit him, all of them only having grazed him. However, there were several dozen scratches on him, all of them superficial, but all of them scratches nonetheless.  
"Damn," Ranma looked down at himself. He looked a thousand times worse than he really was. Still, he would much rather have escaped that second barrage of attacks unscathed.  
"Send out another wave of attacks," Himitsu stated.  
The blond woman did as she was told, saying a few words as the threads of hair started to form above her head and solidify into bolt-like projectiles.  
"Shit!" Ranma realized he had to do something fast.  
He extended a hand forward toward the ground in front of the two women, hoping the explosion would cause the edge of the crater they were standing on to give way and send both women tumbling into the crater. Hopefully, that would give him some breathing room.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Ranma shouted, letting loose a ki-blast angled downward into the area of the crater right below Himitsu and the blond woman.  
"I don't think so!" Himitsu smirked as she made a motion with her hand, sending out a wave of ki to intercept his ki-blast, causing it to explode before it struck the ground.  
Ranma didn't have time to admire the two women's use of teamwork for he found himself continuously dodging once again, slowly becoming cut up even more as projectile after projectile grazed him, superficial enough to draw a bit of blood and cause Ranma to feel the stinging sensation that accompanied it.  
When the barrage projectiles ended, Ranma looked both annoyed and surprised.  
"Okay, this is clearly not working out for me," Ranma looked down at himself, noticing the dozen of newly formed scratches. He couldn't help but respect Himitsu's sense of leadership. Himitsu seemed to know how to implement teamwork. Perhaps that was why he and Itachi were able to do so well against the Akatsuki, because she wasn't around to tell them what to do. Afterall, a group of people fighting as individuals was nowhere near as powerful as a group of people fighting as a team. "Do it again," Himitsu told the blond woman.  
The blond woman did as she was told. When Ranma saw the forth barrage of projectiles coming toward him, he realized he wasn't going to be able to last long if he continued to evade. He needed to take different actions. He didn't make any effort to dodge this time around. Instead, he deflected the incoming projectiles. Since there were only a few that would actually hit him, he didn t need to worry about the others that fly right by him.  
Ranma grinned as he found himself only needing to deflect only a hundred or so projectiles out of thousand or so sent toward him, "This is much easier,"  
While Ranma was distracted deflecting the projectiles that had a chance of actually hitting him, Himitsu took it upon herself to send out a wave of ki toward him, believing he would not see it coming until it was too late. Besides, even if he did see it and tried to dodge, he would get cut up by the other randomly aimed projectiles. Either way, Ranma would get hurt.  
To Himitsu's surprise, Ranma was caught completely unaware and was slammed in the front by Himitsu's invisible wave of ki, sent flying backwards where he twisted in the air and landed on his feet, only to be struck in the arm by a few projectiles before he was able to react and dodge the rest of the incoming projectiles.  
When that wave of attacks stopped, Ranma was breathing heavily, the wind knocked out of him. He looked down at his right arm and saw five bolt-like needles stuck in it.  
He grimaced as he pulled the needles out. This time, the blood flowed more freely from the five puncture wounds. Ranma moved his right arm a bit, flexing it slightly. Jolts of pain shot up and down the length of his arms as he move it but it was not unbearable, he having a very high tolerance for pain since Ryoga knew how to dish out pain on an whole 'nother level.  
"This is getting annoying!" Ranma shouted, throwing up his hands in frustrating. He realized this battle had turned completely one-sided.  
Ranma wondered what to do. He had many ways of defeating his opponents but both of them were female and he had a thing against hitting women. Ranma sighed, "Damn, it looks like it can't be helped. It looks like there's really nothing much I can do,"  
Ranma closed his eyes for a second, taking in a deep breath and drawing in as much ki from his surroundings. He knew he had only a small window of time before the next wave of attacks, this time most likely refined in its execution which would lead to more damage, but he knew it was more than enough time than needed.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" Ranma said as placed both hands on the ground.  
Himitsu, noticing the tell-tale sign the blond woman had warned him about and his ability to cause the ground below their feet to explode, extended a hand toward the ground and created an invisible paper thin barrier separating the two of them from the ground. That way, should the ground explode, the barrier would protect the both of them.  
The blond woman reacted on instinct, bracing herself to be caught in the blast but was surprised when the ground didn't explode. While she could not see it, she sensed a barrier below her feet, conjured by Himitsu as a means of protection from the blast.  
The ground did not explode upward. Instead, it exploded outward in all directions but upward, much like the way a faucet that had its spout turned upward and the way the water would come out had someone placed a hand on top over the exiting water.  
When the explosion subsided, both Himitsu and the blond woman was standing on an invisible floor, a small crater below them. Looking down, the blond woman smiled, realizing that she should not had doubted Himitsu's abilities. That was why she was the leader of the Akatsuki to begin with, because she was very powerful and capable of using her ability to control ki for both offensive and defensive purposes.  
"Seems like your special technique has been neutralized," the blond woman taunted Ranma as she and Himitsu casually stepped off the invisible floor and onto solid floor.  
Ranma did have a look of surprise on his face for this was the first time he had seen anyone neutralize the Bakusai Tenketsu Revised technique in such a way. He had to admit that it looked much more cooler than the way he dealt with it when Ryoga used it against him, by jumping straight up and deflecting all incoming shrapnel.  
"Impressive, most impressive," Ranma smiled.  
The blond woman smiled confidently. Himitsu's face remained stern. Having dealt with Ranma, she was more aware of Ranma's capabilities and knew that such a setback like this was nothing to him.  
"Again," Himitsu told the blond woman to send yet another wave of projectiles at Ranma.  
"Don't think ki-blasts and my Bakusai Tenketsu Revised techniques are my only abilities," Ranma grinned, "Let's see if what you can do against my next technique,"  
As yet another wave of projectiles rocketed toward Ranma, Ranma shot his hand forward, fist closed.  
"Hiryu Shoten Ha! Horizontal Wave Revised!"

Itachi was running through the forest, hoping against hope that he would find his brother first before the rest of the Akatsuki did. As he ran, he heard the sounds of explosions and decided to inspect.  
As he ran, the explosions could be heard getting louder and louder. He noticed an open clearing up ahead. Reaching the clearing, he hid himself to observe what was going on. He didn't want to expose himself needlessly. For instance, if Ranma was busy fighting someone, there was no need to jump in. He could continue on his way and look for his brother.  
Looking down at the other end of the open clearing, Itachi recognized the tattooed man. He noticed the man didn't seem to notice him, a bit distracted attacking someone with his explosive spheres of light.  
Itachi's eyes widened as he caught sight of both his brother and lying motionlessly in the middle of the open clearing, a small puddle of blood surrounding him. Naruto could be seen standing near him, badly hurt, his breathing labored, as if trying to protect him.  
Just as he caught sight of Naruto, a loud explosion consumed him sending the poor boy flying bodily backwards where he tumbled on the ground to a sliding halt close to where Itachi had been hiding.  
He watched as Naruto got back up to his feet and ran straight toward Sasuke to stand in front of him, to use his body as a shield for it seemed like the tattooed man was trying to kill the unconscious Sasuke.  
Realizing that Naruto seemed to be using his body to save Sasuke's life, Itachi knew it wouldn't be long before Naruto finally fell.  
Itachi, aware of the tattoo man's weakness, waited patiently for the moment to attack. He reached into the folds of his clothes to grab a dagger, the blood draining from his face when he realized he no longer had daggers, having used them all during his and Ranma's fight against the giant and the bald man. He should have picked up a few daggers for later use but didn't.  
Realizing that all he had was a dagger, Itachi realized he had only one chance to seize the opportunity and sway a battle against the tattooed man in his favor. The tattooed man was more powerful than Itachi but Itachi currently had the element of surprise on his side.  
Itachi quickly made his way through the woods, making his way around the edge of the clearing so that he was situated behind the tattooed man, the man's blind spot. Unfortunately, the man had a dozen glowing spherical objects floating at dispersed patterns around the man, that being the man's main form of defense. Itachi had learned the hard way that those floating spheres was basically harmless and would continue to float near the man so long as no one got within close proximity to it. If anyone did, the one anyone is closest to would fly out and begin chasing after its target. There was a half second window where Itachi could get within proximity to any of the many floating spheres before they would give chase. There was only a one second window where the man was completely open for attack when he went through the hand gestures of summoning an explosive sphere to shoot toward Naruto.  
If Itachi could land a fatal wound on the man when he is vulnerable, Itachi would not need to worry about the chasing proximity spheres. However, it was a very small window that even Itachi knew he would have trouble carrying out perfectly. The fact that it would take him at least half a second to cover the distance between where he was and to the man's back mean he needed to time his attack perfectly.  
"Your blasts mean nothing!" Naruto taunted at the man. Naruto looked completely wiped out, as if he was well beyond the brink of unconsciousness. Good, Naruto, keep taunting him, Itachi thought with a smile. Eventually he will attack you again and I will attack him from behind.  
Gripping his dagger tightly, Itachi waited for the tattooed man to begin conjuring his explosive sphere.  
Just as the man began summoning his next explosive sphere to send out toward Naruto, Itachi broke out in a full sprint straight toward the man's back.  
I've got you, Itachi thought with cold smile. The man would not know what hit him. He would stab his dagger right through the back of his opponent's neck, shattering his spine in the process. He would give the tattooed man a quick and painless death.  
Just as Itachi reached his target and was about to stab at the back of the man's neck, the man quickly turned around, lashing out at Itachi with a vicious kick.  
Itachi was struck right in the chest and was sent flying bodily backwards where he tumbled on the ground a few times, eventually coming to a sliding halt a short distance from the edge of the clearing. Itachi quickly flipped backwards and onto his feet as he realized that not half a second away were a dozen explosive spheres that had targeted him and was now flying straight toward him.  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Itachi quickly said as he conjured several shadow clones in front of him to take the brunt of the force of the explosions. Unfortunately, he knew they would not help all that much.  
The chasing spheres touched the shadow clones and exploded, every explosive spheres adding to the power of the explosions. The explosion expanded outward, consuming Itachi, sending him flying bodily backwards where he slammed against, crashing through it and crashing into the tree behind it before falling to the ground.  
Itachi coughed up a small quantity of blood.  
A couple of my ribs are cracked, Itachi thought. This is bad. This is really bad. If I put much strain on myself, they'll snap in two.  
"Did you really think you could sneak up on me like that?" the tattooed man taunted, walking toward Itachi, "I saw you when you were observing us from the other side of the clearing. I saw you when you made your way around through the woods to get behind me. I saw you when you tried to run up behind me. Who do you take me for, some amateur?"  
Itachi sneered. He should have known that his opponent would have gotten of that weakness long ago. Of course, since they haven't sparred one another in a long time, Itachi never noticed The man quickly turned around as an extended a hand toward Naruto as the young boy tried to tackle him from behind. It wasn't as if he was going to forget about Naruto all of a sudden now, was he?  
A baseball-sized explosive sphere appeared right in front of the young boy just as he ran right into it, consumed in the explosion. Once again, Naruto was blown backwards, tumbling on the ground head over feet several times before finally coming to a halt right by where Sasuke lay motionlessly.  
The tattooed man noticed Naruto made no effort to get back up to his feet, finally having fallen into the darkness of unconsciousness.  
"About damn time he finally fell unconscious," the tattooed man stated.  
Itachi, seeing the tattooed man's back toward him, made an attempt at stabbing him from behind. Unfortunately, he was greeted with an explosion right against his chest as the man, with his back still turned toward Itachi, conjured an explosive sphere directly between him and Itachi, Itachi running right into it.  
Itachi yelped out in pain as he was consumed in the blast and was blown bodily backwards, dropping his dagger in the process, crashing through the tree had had bounced off before and slamming into the tree behind that before falling down to the ground.  
Itachi coughed a large quantity of blood and winced in pain as he felt extreme pain with every breath.  
Damn, Itachi thought. A few of my ribs are broken. One of my lungs are punctured. I'm going to drown in my own blood before long.  
He sat upright and leaned his back against the tree he had slammed into before. He looked at his right leg and noticed it was bent at a right angel where it shouldn't be, the femur of his leg broken cleanly. The adrenaline in his body was preventing him from feeing the pain he should be feeling.  
Suffering a concussion, his eyes stinging from the blood dripping into it, from the giant gash on his forehead, Itachi looked up toward the tattooed man as he picked up Itachi's dagger.  
"You shouldn't play with sharp objects," the man grinned before tossing it back at Itachi, missing his head by inches, the dagger becoming embedded in the trunk of the tree right next to him.  
"Seems like you're in quite the predicament," the tattooed man grinned, "Your ribs are broken, one of your legs are broke, you have no weapons,"  
Itachi noticed the man didn't make direct eye contact with him, the tattooed man well aware that Itachi still had his dreaded eye technique, his Tsukiyomi ability.  
A rustle could be heard from some bushes not too far behind the tattooed man.  
The tattooed man turned his attention toward the noise.  
The color drained from the tattooed man's face as he found himself looking at Ranma a short distance away from where he stood.  
"Shit," the man said, realizing things had suddenly turned very bad for him. He had observed Ranma's abilities and knew he could not fight against him. Ranma would beat him within a few seconds if he wanted to. Ranma knocked out two of his Akatsuki brethren, the giant and the bald man with the bo staff, without breaking a sweat, both of them stronger than he himself. He was not a stupid man and knew he would surely fall if he fought Ranma.  
Itachi, realizing that he had a chance to attack, reached over to grab the dagger embedded in the tree trunk right next to his face. However, as he reacted for it, a pain shot up his body causing him to wince in pain, slowing his actions.  
To his surprise, the pain slowed his attempt in grabbing the dagger just long enough that he caught sight of the glowing handle. It only took him a second to realized that the tattooed man placed an explosive sphere within the handle and that it would explode if he grabbed it. The man had purposely thrown the dagger for within quick reach of him as a trap.  
It's going to hurt like Hell but I have no other means of attacking him, Itachi thought.  
Itachi took in a deep breath, ignoring the excruciating pain he felt as his lungs with air, becoming even more punctured with his broken ribs.  
Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu! he thought as he breathed out a massive ball of fire from his mouth.  
The fire shot forward, catching the tattooed man completely by surprise. The man was consumed in the fiery blast, shouting out in pain as he was burned alive, dropping to the ground and rolling around in an attempt to put out the flames, much to no avail, the flames sticking to him like that of napalm.  
The shadows of the trees danced back and forth from the flickering light of the flames as it consumed its hapless victim without mercy. When the flames died, there remained nothing but the charred and smoldering body of the tattooed man. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air. A crackling sound could be heard coming from the body.  
Itachi sighed in relief and winced in pain at the same time. He glance toward the dagger and noticed that it no longer glowed like before, the person that supplied its explosive power now dead. He then looked down at his chest area and noticed one of his ribs sticking out of it, piercing through the skin as well as his shirt. His life blood was squirting out through the puncture in his skin, soaking his clothes and the ground.  
"Damn," Itachi said weakly. He had never seen his own ribs before. It was quite a sight to behold.  
He glanced over toward the middle of the open field where he saw both Naruto and his brother unconscious. He smiled slightly, happy that he managed to save their lives.  
Looks like this is the end for me, Itachi thought, slumping over to the ground. Just as he closed his eyes, he saw Ranma rushing straight toward him, a look of concern on his face. Ranma can take over from here, Itachi thought. Damn, I've done the best that I could but it seems like I won't see this to the end. Damn, I was so close too. I was a fool to think I might actually have a chance of seeing this through to the end. It seems like I must leave the welfare and safety of my little brother to you, Ranma. Take care of Sasuke for me.  
Itachi closed his eyes, allowing the darkness to bestow him.

new stuff 4/26

Shizune regarded her opponent critically. Standing before her was an short old man that carried what looked like a wooden box on his back. He looked like some elderly traveling herbalists that carried all his herbs in that small cabinet-like box around wherever he went.  
She had no idea who the old man was or what he was capable of but knew not to underestimate him. He was one of the Akatsuki which meant he was incredibly powerful, far more powerful than she was. While she hated to admit it, she was inwardly glad Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee were with her for the four of them together would definitely be a worrisome group even for the likes of the Akatsuki.  
She glanced over her shoulder toward the three young boys behind her, all of them ready to react to anything. They were all standing in the middle of a clearing.  
"Who are you?" she asked.  
The old man proceeded to perform several hand seals. However, from Shizune's point of view, he was doing hand seals she didn't recognize. It made her wonder if he used some form of ancient hand seals or a variation of the hand seals she knew.  
"He's using sign language," Lee stated, recognizing the hand gestures.  
"Sign language? Why?" Shizune was confused. She felt a bit angry at herself for not noticing first before one of the boys did, what with her being a Jounin and Lee being a Genin.  
"He's saying that who he is is none of our concern," Lee read the old man's signs.  
"How do you know that?" Shikamaru asked, "How do you know how to read sign language?"  
Lee gave an embarrassed look, "I learned to read and do sign language because it helps develop dexterity,"  
"Oh, that makes sense I guess," Shikamaru said.  
He smiled as he realized he was learning something new every day, today being Lee's ability to read sign language.  
"Why are you using sign language?" Shizune asked, "It's obvious you can hear us,"  
The old man did a few signs.  
"He basically said that he's mute, not deaf," Lee blushed. The old man seemed to have no qualms about cursing in sign language. He was pretty sure she didn't want to hear the choice words the old man had chosen to call her.  
"We aren't interested in fighting," Shizune tried to be diplomatic, "Our business isn't with you,"  
"Neither am I," Lee translated the signs, "My business isn't with you either. Let's part ways,"  
Shizune and the group watched as the old man turned around and walked off slowly, disappearing into the woods. They noticed he walked with a hobbled gait, as if he was a lot older than he looked, as if he was well over a hundred years old. His steps seemed unhurried, as if he had totally dismissed his brief encounter with Shizune and her group and was now going on his merry way.  
"What a strange person," Neji commented, "I couldn't detect him,"  
"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked.  
Neji said, "I'm not too sure. It's as if he was there but wasn't there,"  
"You mean he was just a shadow clone?" Shizune asked. It didn't cross her mind that he might've been a clone. If that was the case, she didn't detect any presence of where the real person was.  
Neji shook his head, "I don't think so. It's really hard to say. I was using my Byakugan to check him out but there was no presence to him, no chakra within him. I knew I was definitely seeing him, but I didn't see nor sense anything beyond the person that was standing in front of me. It know I was seeing him, but my senses was telling me like he wasn t there,"  
"I guess he's just a shadow image," Lee commented.  
"No. If he was, I would've noticed the chakra," Neji shook his head, "Whatever I saw, it was something I've never seen before,"  
No one said anything. The comment was rather disturbing.  
"Okay, we better continue on looking for Naruto and Sasuke," Shizune told them.  
There came a noise from behind the group. Everyone turned around, ready for anything.  
A massive wave of relief washed over all of them as they caught sight of Ranma running toward them. They had parted ways with Ranma only a few minutes ago but it was fairly stressful. Knowledge that Akatsuki member were running around in the forest and that there was a chance they might bump into them was a very stressful scenario to think about. Also, everyone there seemed to be in an excited state from their brief but uneventful encounter with one of the Akatsuki.  
It seemed the old man, even though he had no intentions of staying around and fighting, had left quite an impact on the group of four.  
"Ranma," Shizune called out to him. However, as she saw him running toward them, something didn't sit right with her but she didn't quite know what it was.  
"Halt!" Neji shouted as he threw a dagger straight toward Ranma, striking the ground in front of him.  
Ranma came to a sliding halt.  
"Shadow Bind Technique!" Shikamaru shouted, his shadow shooting forward from him and straight toward Ranma, capturing his shadow.  
The group stared at Ranma as he stood frozen in place near the middle of the open field a good thirty or so feet away from the group. There was a look of surprise on his face.  
"What's going on?" Lee asked, confused.  
"Who are you?" Shikamaru asked.  
Shizune smirked. It seemed like Neji and Shikamaru noticed the same thing that she did. Shizune regarded Ranma for a moment, fully aware that what she was looking at someone that had transformed him or herself to look like Ranma. She inwardly admitted that that was a rather smart idea and a perfect way of getting close to them and having the drop on them. Of course, it was most unfortunate that they were all in an heightened state of awareness from having bumped into an Akatsuki member just a minute before.  
"Bwee!" Ranma shouted.  
"Bwee?" Lee scratched his head.  
"That's not Ranma," Neji said in annoyance, "Why don't you pay more attention?"  
Neji had noticed that it wasn't Ranma because he had his Byakugan ability enabled which instant made him realize it wasn't Ranma, the person running toward him giving off a much different aura than Ranma. Ranma's aura was pervasive and downright frightening in how powerful it was. This person's aura was very minute, almost nonexistent.  
Shikamaru had noticed it wasn't Ranma simply through observation. Used to detail, he noticed that Ranma had a different stride from the one he himself remembered. Everyone's stride was unique, much like a finger print. The Ranma running toward him looked like someone not used to running on two feet, much like the way like Kiba's dog, Akamaru would when he transformed into human form.  
"Ton-Ton, what are you doing here?" Shizune asked.  
"Bwee!" Ranma said again.  
Shizune turned toward Shikamaru, "Release your Shadow Bind hold. It's okay,"  
Shikamaru did as he was told.  
Ranma suddenly became enveloped in a large cloud of smoke, disappearing to reveal Ton-Ton. Ton-Ton had a concerned look on its face but didn't run forward, looking nervously at the dagger embedded in the ground in front of it.  
Shizune approached Ton-Ton, "Why are you here? Where'd you come from?"  
Ton-Ton ran forward and nipped at the bottom of Shizune's leggings, tugging at it before turning around and running back into the woods.  
"I think the pig wants us to follow it," Shikamaru commented correctly, wondering what other strange things he was going to see today.  
Everyone followed after Ton-Ton.  
Shizune gasped in surprise when she saw the motionless bodies of Naruto and Sasuke lying in the middle of the field. She had been following closely behind Ton-Ton as the pig led them through the forest and to an open field.  
"Jeez, what happened here?" Shikamaru commented, noticing the battlefield. The open clearing was filled with tiny craters. He noticed Naruto and Sasuke as well and they were both covered with cuts and bruises. Shizune crouched down by Sasuke, noticing him in worse condition than Naruto. She checked for his pulse and noticed that it was faint but steady. She then checked Naruto and noticed his pulse was faint but steady. This made her breath a sigh of relief. She went back over to Sasuke and placed a palm over his chest, proceeding to use her ki to heal him. The three boys watched as Shizune did what she was best at, the art of healing. They watched in amazement as Sasuke's flushed face regained its color and the cuts and scratches seemed to gradually disappear.  
"Bwee!" Ton-Ton snorted from the other side of the field.  
Shizune looked up and noticed Ton-Ton seemed to want her to continue following it. She glanced over at Naruto and noticed that he seemed okay and that she could get back to him after she found out why Ton-Ton wanted her to follow it so badly.  
"The three of you, watch over Sasuke and Naruto," Shizune said before heading off, "I'll be right back,"  
After Shizune followed after Ton-Ton, the three boys looked at one another as they stood over the still unconscious Sasuke.  
"Well, now what?" Neji asked. He knew Shikamaru and Lee were thinking the same thing as he was. Sasuke was right in front of them, completely vulnerable. Their mission was to assassinate him and they now had a perfect chance to carry out that mission. A quick slit of Sasuke's throat and their mission was done.  
"Leave him," Shikamaru said in an authoritative voice.  
"You're jeopardizing our mission," Neji said coldly, "You're defying direct orders from the Hokage,"  
Shikamaru said, "I don't care. I'll take full responsibility,"  
"We didn't have the full details of everything going on when we left Hidden Leaf Village for her," Shikamaru stated, "Now that we're here, we've found out that things are completely different from what we originally thought. This changes everything,"  
Neji shook his head, pulling out a dagger, "No, I can't accept that. Our mission is to assassinate Sasuke and we will carry it out!"  
In an instance, Neji found himself unable to his move, Shikamaru's Shadow Bind Technique taking full control of him, dropping the dagger in the process.  
"W-what are you doing?" Neji sneered, "We need to carry out our mission!"  
Shikamaru said loudly, "Stand down! I'm the leader of this team and I say to let him live!"  
"You're making a big mistake!" Neji said, trying to fight free of Shikamaru's hold on him, much to no avail. He was stunned at how powerful Shikamaru's Shadow Bind Technique was at close range. It was down right frightening for Neji for he felt a sense of absolute helplessness a feeling he didn't like one bit.  
"Maybe, but I'm willing to deal with the consequences," Shikamaru said, "You need to understand that the situation is no longer what we thought it was when we left Hidden Leaf Village. Sasuke never defected like the Hokage thought. He simply left because he found out his brother was here and came here to go after him. If we carry out our mission, we are murdering someone who left the village to go after his brother. Sasuke didn't defect over to Orochimaru's side. He didn't defect over to the enemy. Are you willing to disregard this?"  
Neji found himself unable to reply to such a statement.  
He was surprised when he suddenly found himself released of Shikamaru's hold.  
Shikamaru picked up the dagger from the ground that Neji dropped and handed it to him.  
"The decision is yours," Shikamaru said, "Are you going to kill Sasuke to carry out your sense of duty, or are you going to trust me as your leader and stand down?"  
Neji said nothing. After a moment, he placed the dagger away.  
Perhaps Shikamaru was cut out to be a leader, afterall.  
Lee tried to get their attention, "Guys, did you just hear something?"  
Unfortunately, it was too late.

Shizune followed the pig into the woods and noticed a motionless body lying on its sides right by a tree. Ton-Ton could be seen stopping by the motionless body.  
A terrible smell of burnt flesh caused Shizune to cover he nose.  
She glanced over where she saw the charred remains of a body. Smoke still emanated from it.  
Shizune didn't need to waste a second to know that that person was dead, beyond helped. She turned her attention toward the motionless body Ton-Ton was standing close to.  
Her eyes widened when she realized that it was none other than Itachi.  
She paused for a brief moment, contemplating what to do. In her heart, she felt that Itachi was an evil person and that the world was better off without someone like him. Afterall, he was a murderer, wasn't he? Wasn't he? This made her confused because it was obvious that he murdered the Uchiha Clan, but they had been murdered before. Could he be considered a murderer if he murdered the already dead?  
"Bwee!" Ton-Ton's snort seemed to snap her out of her thoughts.  
I'm a medical ninja, Shizune thought to herself. I can't let my feelings interfere. I took an oath to save those in need of help and Itachi here needs help.  
Reluctantly, Shizune checked Itachi over, diagnosing his injuries.  
"Punctured lung. Four compound fractured ribs. Compound fractured right femur," she said as she proceeded to check him out, "Dozens of lacerations. Concussions. Severe head trauma. Dislocated left shoulder. Torn ligaments of the right elbow. Dislocated left elbow,"  
Shizune breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that all she could fix all his injuries. Aside from a punctured lung, he had suffered no life-threatening injuries. The funny thing is that shock would kill him more quickly than his punctured lung. The punctured lung wasn't severe enough that it would kill him. It did make for labored breathing thought. It was to combination of the broken bones and dislocated joints that made the threat of shock very serious.  
She proceeded to heal Itachi of his injuries by first popping his shoulder and elbow back into place. Since Itachi was unconscious, it was best to pop them in now so he won't have to suffer through the pain of having it done had he been conscious. She then went on to healing his punctured lung and working to the broken ribs.  
After a couple of minutes, she sat back, wiping the sweat from her brows, feeling like she had done a job well done. Most of Itachi's injuries were fixed. She had used a tremendous amount of ki bonding the bones back together and fixing his broken ribs and femur that she sat down on the ground, in need of some time to get some rest.  
"Ugh," Itachi groaned, slowly opening her eyes.  
He was surprised to see Shizune sitting nearby, "You're awake,"  
He looked down at himself and noticed that one of his legs wasn't bent at an odd angle.  
"I fixed it," Shizune answered before Itachi had asked, "I fixed your ribs as well,"  
Itachi regarded Shizune for a moment, surprised that she had actually helped him. There was no reason for her to help him. Afterall, he was considered one of the bad guys.  
"Why'd you help me?" he asked, genuinely confused.  
Shizune was silent for a moment, "I really don't know,"  
She wanted to say that it was her job as a medical ninja to help anyone in need of help, but she knew she would be lying. It would only be an excuse. Perhaps it was because she felt it was the right thing to do even though she deeply resented doing so.  
"Thank you," Itachi's voice seemed genuinely grateful.  
He proceeded to get back up to his feet but winced in pain, leaning against the tree to support himself to keep his legs from buckling out from under him.  
"Your injuries may be healed but your body still remembers being injured," Shizune smiled, "It'll take some time before your body realizes it's no longer injured. And not only that, you've got a critically low amount of chakra and need rest,"  
Itachi said nothing. He had never really been healed before, always resorting to his body healing naturally, that he wasn't used to it. It actually felt odd, as if there was some kind of shadowy injury.  
He looked down toward the charred body of the tattooed man a short distance in front of him. When he saw the body, he realized what had happened, that Naruto and Sasuke had been knocked unconscious in the middle of the field a short distance from where he defeated the tattooed man. They were both vulnerable.  
"Where's my brother?" Itachi quickly said.  
"With Neji, Shikamaru, and Lee," Shizune said. She wondered if they had ever crossed paths, "They're very capable ninjas and are watching over them right now,"  
"How'd you find me?" Itachi asked.  
Shizune gestured toward Ton-Ton. The pig gave a happy snort for being acknowledged.  
Itachi regarded Ton-Ton for a moment.  
"What happened to Ranma?" Itachi said, "I'm positive I saw Ranma right before I blacked out. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for him, I wouldn'tve been able to defeat my opponent. Ranma's sudden appearance had distracted my opponent just long enough for me to defeat him,"  
Shizune looked around, "Ranma was here? Well, if he was, we didn't see him,"  
Ton-Ton snorted loudly as a puff of smoke consumed the pig. When the smoke disappeared, Shizune and Itachi found themselves gazing at Ranma. Ranma pointed to himself before a cloud of smoke engulfed him, dissipating to reveal Ton-Ton again.  
"So it was you I saw," Itachi said, smirking, "I guess I owe you my thanks,"  
Shizune was a bit confused. After a moment, she put two and two together.  
"Oh, I get it," Shizune said, "Ton-Ton, you transformed yourself into Ranma to distract Itachi's opponent,"  
Ton-Ton nodded.  
The pig had saved Itachi's life. After having been dropped off by Naruto, Ton-  
Ton hadn't gone off looking for truffles. The pig and gone off to a safe hiding space to observe what was going to occur between Naruto and Sasuke and the tattooed opponent. When Ton-Ton saw Itachi jump into the battle and noticed him slowly losing the battle, the pig took it upon itself to transform into Ranma in hopes of causing a distraction to the tattooed man. It was a huge gamble but seemed to have worked. After Itachi had defeated his opponent and fell unconscious, Ton-Ton, while still in the form of Ranma, had gone off looking for Shizune to bring her there to save Itachi's life. Of course, Ton-Ton ended up getting a scare of its life when it forgot it was in a transformed form and Shizune and her group thought it was some kind of sneak attack.  
In essence, Ton-Ton saved Itachi's life twice. It was a special pig not to be underestimated.  
Ton-Ton snorted at the air before it turned toward Shizune and Itachi.  
"Bwee! Bwee!" it snorted a couple of times before running off in the general direction of the children.  
"I think the children are in danger," Shizune said, heading off, "I'm going to go find out. You just wait here,"  
Itachi didn't bother to listen to Shizune's advice. Instead, he pulled the dagger out of the tree that he had been leaning against before, grimaced in pain, and proceeded to follow after her, his legs aching.  
Hopefully he will make it there in time.

"Ugh," Sasuke groaned, slowly opening his eyes.  
He found himself looking up in the sky, a bit confused as to where he was.  
What happened, he wondered as he sat upright and recall what was happening. His body ached terribly, all his muscles feeling like they were on fire.  
"Nooo!" he heard a scream from a short distance away, just as he sat upright.  
Within moments of hearing the scream, Sasuke felt a sharp pain entering his right shoulder and right thigh.  
He looked down at his shoulder and saw the blade of a katana sticking into out of it and embedded in the ground in front of him. While it seemed rather surreal, Sasuke realized he just been stabbed from behind, the blade entering his body at an angle that it entered through upper right part of his shoulder blade, exiting out of the middle of his right pectoral muscle, and into the his right leg.  
"What the?" Sasuke didn't see to comprehend what was happening to him. He watched as the blood trickled down the blade and into the wound in his leg. It looked rather odd, as if blood was being transfused from his shoulder and into his leg.  
He felt a sharp pain as the blade was pulled out of his leg and shoulder, only to pierce him through his other shoulder and thigh.  
I'm being murdered, Sasuke realized. Someone is murdering me from behind.  
He was still in a state of confusion as to what was going on, as to why he was being murdered before his very eyes.  
When the blade was pulled back out, Sasuke felt himself unable to do anything as he fell backwards and onto his back, finding himself looking up toward the sky again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some orange.  
Tilting his head slightly, he saw Naruto lying motionlessly. A short distance away, he saw three other motionless bodies. For some odd reason, he could swear that he recognize Lee, Neji, and Shikamaru. He saw a figure come into view and looked down at him.  
Sasuke found himself looking up at the eyeless face of a man clad in a samurai outfit, a smirk on his face, a katana resting over one of his shoulders, dripping with Sasuke's blood.  
Little did Sasuke know that he was staring up at one of the members of the Akatsuki Organization.  
Ranma had dealt with the person before and had basically nicknamed him the blind swordsman. The nicknamed seemed fitting for he was blind and seemed to rely upon the use of swords as his main form of offense.  
He and Sasuke were in the middle of the clearing, Sasuke in the same location where he had been knocked out earlier. He actually would have remained unconscious had Shizune not taken a short time to help heal him before going off and following after Ton-Ton to find Itachi and help him as well.  
Naruto had been unconscious the entire time, never haven awoken from when he was first knocked out by the tattooed man. Lee, Shikamaru, and Neji were all unconscious nearby, both Lee and Neji in serious conditions and bleeding rather profusely from the many lacerations on their bodies. Shikamaru had been knocked out before he even knew what hit him.  
Through sheer luck, the blind swordsman had stumbled upon Shikamaru's group shortly after they had decided not to carry out their original mission of killing Sasuke. Lee had heard his approach but none of them had the time to react, Shikamaru knocked out by a quick blow to the back of the head with the hilt of the sword.  
Lee and Neji both tried to fight him, much to no avail. As strong as they were individually, they were still Genins and fighting against someone like that of an Akatsuki member was no contest. Besides, with their leader Shikamaru taken out, their teamwork was nonexistent so it was very much like a body moving without a head. The blind swordsman took them down within a few seconds.  
Shizune arrived only moments after the blind swordsman had defeated both Neji and Lee, only to be knocked out shortly afterwards. The blind swordsman was an incredibly aggressive fighter and Shizune, as good as she was, could not put up much of a battle against him. His special ability of sensing his surroundings as well as his acute hearing made him more powerful than any opponent she had ever faced before.  
The sound of the screaming that Sasuke heard was none other than Itachi as finally made his way to the clearing and saw the blind swordsman standing over his little brother, his sword held up high as if ready to decapitate Sasuke just as he sat upright to survey his surroundings.  
The blind swordsman, having noticed Itachi's timely arrival decided to take it upon himself to make Itachi suffer, by having him witness the slow progression of his little brother's death. Afterall, why should he give Sasuke a quick and painless death when he could prolong his suffering and thus make Itachi suffer more to have to witness such an atrocity.  
"You fucking bastard!" Sasuke heard a voice, a familiar voice.  
That sounds like my brother, Sasuke thought as he continued to look up into the sky, noticing that his vision was starting to blur and that he was starting to feel cold. Why's my brother shouting like that?  
"What a stroke of luck, Itachi," he overhead the blind swordsman said, "I have stumbled upon the Uchiha brothers. This makes my task of exterminating Uchiha clan very easy since I won't have to go looking for you after I kill your brother,"  
"Leave him alone!" Sasuke overheard his brother.  
Itachi was standing a good forty feet away from where Sasuke and the blind swordsman was. Unfortunate, his body ached and he found himself needing to lean against a tree just to remain upright.  
"I don't think so," the blind swordsman laughed, "It's no use begging for your brother's life. As soon as I kill him, I'm going to kill you. There is no negotiations,"  
Sasuke seemed confused as to what was going on. The blind swordsman looked down and noticed that Sasuke was still conscious albeit barely, "I must say, the resemblance you and your little brother share is very striking. It's like I'm looking into a spitting image of you,"  
Itachi threw a dagger toward the blind swordsman, only to have it skillfully deflected by his sword.  
"What a pathetic attack," the blind swordsman grinned, "It's almost as pathetic as your father, right before I plunged my sword right into his chest,"  
"You! So you were the one that killed our father!" Itachi fumed with rage, recalling vividly what he had seen that day when he saw both his parents killed, "I should've known it was you. It must've been your sword that was sticking into my father's chest that day,"  
The blind swordsman laughed, "So you really did see the murder of your own parents. We've wondered how you managed to figure out that your parents and the entire Uchiha Clan were nothing but clones. I guess you found out about the death of most of your clan before they had been cloned,"  
"C-cloned?" Sasuke said weakly. He was overhearing the conversation but wasn't too sure what he was hearing. It sounded like someone else had murdered his parents, not Itachi.  
The blind swordsman looked down at Sasuke. He pressed a foot against Sasuke's chest and grinned, "I guess you don't know the truth, huh? Maybe I'll do you the favor and tell you the truth to the Uchiha Clan before I lop your head cleanly off your shoulders. You see, I was the one that killed your father and mother. I was the one that plunged my sword into your father's chest as well as the one that had cut your mother's head off. The Akatsuki showed up and killed your entire clan, save for you and Itachi. We had plans to acquire your Sharingan bloodline when the two of you became of age. One of our members had cloned your entire clan. We had long-term plans for the two of you, to have the clones raise you two and eventually acquire your Sharingan ability when the time was right," The blind swordsman laughed, "Of course, things didn't turn out as we quite expected for Itachi killed the 'parents' we created for the two of you. Your brother seems to be very smart for he made himself off as a cold-hearted murderer to throw off suspicion from us into believe that he had figured out our plans. Had we known he had found out, we would've considered the plan a lost cause and killed both you and Itachi. It's amusing how Itachi managed to fool every single one of us into believing he was indeed some cold-hearted killer much like we are. Afterall, he even managed to fool you, his own flesh and blood. Afterall, why else would you dedicate so much of your life to killing the one person that actually saved your life,"  
Sasuke didn't know what to say. If what the man was saying was true, then that means Sasuke's entire life was nothing like what he had originally thought. It's got to be lies, Sasuke thought. I refuse to believe my entire life, that all that I've lived for to this very moment, was nothing but a lie.  
The blind swordsman turned his attention toward Itachi, "Before I kill your brother and you, answer me this one question. Exactly how did you expect to succeed? Even if you did manage to wipe us out, did you really expect your little brother to suddenly accept that all that you've done was for him? I can see it in the boy's eyes. There's nothing but hatred. As a matter of fact, perhaps your little brother is a lot like you. While you managed to save his life, his hatred toward you as well as your hatred of us have made you two gone down similar roads,"  
"It doesn't matter to me," Itachi said confidently, "I was ready to die by my brother's hands after I took the Akatsuki Organization down and avenged the death of our clan,"  
"Foolish, absolutely foolish," the blind swordsman said, "While I must admit that you do have a very powerful ally on your side, you two are still fighting impossible odds. You've managed to do as well as you've done because our leader has yet to make her presence felt,"  
The blind swordsman inwardly cursed Himitsu's name. Had she not walked away, half the team would not had been wiped out like it did. Sometimes, he wondered if Himitsu had her own hidden agendas or simply dismissed anything that didn't pertain to her.  
Itachi smirked, "You underestimate Ranma. He's far more powerful than anything you can possibly comprehend. I know. I've seen it first-hand. He will see things to the end,"  
Itachi truly believed in what he was saying. There was something to Ranma that made Itachi feel like they were kindred spirits, that they were more alike than either of them would ever care to admit.  
"You're the murderers of my clan?" Sasuke had to weakly ask.  
The blind swordsman bent down and grabbed Sasuke's neck, picking him up off the ground. Sasuke, tried to struggle to breath but could not, neither of his arms or legs able to move.  
"You don't get it, boy, do you?" the blind swordsman asked, "You were a mere baby when we killed your clan. The clan who raised you were nothing but clones, all of with only a single objective, to raise you until the two of your were old enough so the Akatsuki Organization could acquire your Sharingan abilities. Your life, all that you know, all that you've lived for, was fake. The only thing that was ever real in your life was your brother. Your brother did what he did to save your life. But alas, it was all for nothing for tonight, you two will die,"  
The blind swordsman brought a sword up, the blade pointed straight toward Sasuke's chest, ready to plunge the sword through the young boy as he held him by his neck.  
"Itachi, you gave your life and your future to save your brother," the blind swordsman laughed, "Well, it seems like they were all for nothing. Say goodbye to your brother. Watch as I plunge my sword into his heart just like I did to your father so many years before,"  
"No!"

The blind swordsman found himself unable to move.  
He felt his arms stretched out from his body, as if he was being crucified. He no longer felt the warm flesh of Sasuke's neck in his hand or cold hilt of his sword in his other. He knew that he had Sasuke in his hand one second ago and was ready to plunge his sword into the young boy's heart.  
"What the?" he said.  
He knew he wasn't caught in some from of Genjutsu for he was immune to illusions. He possessed an acute ability to sense and that ability could not be manipulated like that of the other five sense. It was impossible to use Genjutsu on him. However, he definitely felt like he was in some form of Genjutsu. It didn't make sense. "Where the hell am I?" he asked. He had no idea where he was. All that he knew was that he was no longer standing in the middle of a open clearing. He sensed no one around him in all directions. He sensed neither Naruto, Shizune, Sasuke, Lee, Neji, Itachi, nor Shikamaru.  
He did sense this pervasive aura of killing intent. It was all surrounding, as if consuming him. It was a frighteningly powerful aura, even more powerful than the aura Himitsu gave off.  
From what the blind swordsman could discern based on what he was feeling, it seemed like he bound to a cross, as if he was being crucified.  
There came a laugh from everywhere, the blind swordsman unable to pinpoint where it was coming from. He recognized the voice as Itachi's.  
"I finally understand," Itachi said.  
"Where the hell are you?" the man said, feeling a sense of fright. It felt like he was dealing with Ranma when Ranma suddenly showed off his ability to mask his presence. Something like that should not be possible.  
"I have finally figured it out," Itachi said, his voice filled absolute confidence, a "The Sharingan it the ultimate bloodline. There exists not a single bloodline that can surpass it. I now know why some people are foolish enough to believe there are better bloodlines than that of Sharingan, it's because no one has ever unlocked the true potential of the Sharingan,"  
"Where the hell am I?" the blind swordsman ignored.  
"You're in my world," Itachi replied, "You've been caught in my Tsukiyomi technique,"  
"What? I-Impossible!" the blind swordsman said.  
"No it isn't," Itachi answered, "For I have finally figured out how to unlock the Sharingan's true powers. You've been caught in my Tsukiyomi technique because I no longer need to make eye contact for it to work,"  
"Impossible!" the blind man said.  
He then let out a blood curdling scream of excruciating pain as he felt a blade slice at his abdomen, the weight of his intestines ripping the gash wide open where his entrails fell out, dangling there in the air, him unable to do anything.  
"Now do you think it's impossible?" Itachi asked wryly.  
The blind man suddenly found himself whole again but still unable to move, as if the wound had never occurred.  
"H-how is this possible?" the blind man gasped.  
"I evolved my normal Sharingan ability by allowing myself to become best friends with one of the clones the Akatsuki had created and killing him," Itachi said, "While I knew he was a mere clone, the fact that I did consider him my best friend was enough to evolve my normal Sharingan to that of Mangekyou Sharingan. I had thrown away my humanity to acquire that ability. However, at the main temple of the Nakano Shrine, underneath the seventh tatami mat on the far right side I found the Uchiha clan's secret meeting place. There, it showed me the history of the Uchiha Clan's eye ability. It also revealed to me a secret, that there exists an ability beyond that of Mangekyou Sharingan, that to acquire such an ability, one needed to accept the humanity one threw away to acquire Mangekyou Sharingan. I never understood it until now,"  
"A-and what would that be?" the blind man asked.  
"To unlock my Sharingan bloodline's true ability, I needed to use Mangekyou Sharingan to protect the one that means the most to me," Itachi said, "What an incredible twist of irony. To unlock the Sharingan's true potential, I had to use the one ability that had turned me into a murderer in the first place to protect someone. The Sharingan's true power lies in the Mangekyou's ability to protect,"  
The blind man couldn't believe what he was hearing. What a deadly technique. To be able to use the Tsukiyomi technique without the need to make eye contact was powerful beyond comprehension.  
The swordsman suddenly found himself able to see, Itachi somehow having giving him the gift, or was that curse, of eyesight.  
His eyes widened as he saw Itachi for the very first time in his life. He watched in horror as Itachi sliced his abdomen open, letting his entrails fall out again. He then saw Itachi sliced his throat open as he was screaming from the pain of having his belly ripped open.  
A second later, the once-blind man felt himself whole again.  
"I have given you eyesight. For eternity, you will see through the eyesight I have cursed you with so you can watch yourself being killed over and over again," Itachi said, "I am going to use my Perfect Sharingan ability and let you witness it's gruesome power. You will experience first hand why the Sharingan Bloodline is the ultimate bloodline to have ever existed. You will never escape this realm and will suffer for the rest of eternity,"  
Itachi created a clone of himself to carry out the gruesome deed of killing the now-sighted man over and over again.  
He then turned around and started walking away, disappearing into the darkness that surrounds the man on the cross. The sounds of his screaming could be heard over and over against as he was killed and brought back to live over and over again. Itachi felt no remorse for the murderer of his parents.

Itachi found himself standing near the edge of the clearing.  
He gazed toward the center where he saw the blind swordsman just standing there, seemingly lifeless, like a vessel without a soul. He smiled as he knew the man would be suffering for all of eternity. It didn't matter if he decapitated the man. It would do nothing for him in the Tsukiyomi realm for his soul had been trapped there. The blind swordsman no longer existed in this world, his soul having been utterly consumed and now suffering an eternity of torment.  
He glanced over toward Sasuke and noticed that he was sitting upright, coughing, gasping for air, very much alive.  
"I've avenged our parents' killer," Itachi said but found himself unable to speak for he had lost his voice, one of the results of having performed the Perfect Sharingan.  
I must get to my brother, Itachi thought. He winced as he used sheer willpower to slowly limp toward his brother. His brother could be seen staring at him, a look of shock on his face. There Itachi was, not forty feet away from him. Itachi had been his goal for so many years and the moment had finally come to finally confront him.  
For some odd reason, tears started falling from Sasuke's eyes as he watched Itachi struggling to make his way over to where he was.  
With every step Itachi took, he felt his life leaving him. He could feel the ki within his body escaping. He felt his vision become becoming blurry. He felt his hearing disappearing for he could no longer hear the sounds of his footsteps or the winds. He felt his sense of touch leaving him as well for he no longer felt the gusts of wind even though his cloak fluttered in the wind. He no longer smelled the scent of grass surrounding him. He no longer tasted the blood within his mouth. All his senses were leaving him.  
Please, let me keep my sight just a little bit longer, Itachi pleaded to himself, to anyone. Let me see my brother up close one last time before I go. All of Itachi's energy was leaving him. All his senses had already left him. His once fiery eyes became pale with nothingness.  
Itachi continued to painfully walk forward, bothering to look forward, hoping against hope to see his little brother, much to no avail. He saw nothing but darkness. Sasuke winced in great pain as he forced himself to get up. With both arms hanging limply by his sides and large quantities of blood pouring from the open wounds in both of his thighs, Sasuke made his painful struggle toward his brother. He wanted to meet him halfway, to cut the painful trek in half for him.  
As Sasuke took painful step after painful step, he told himself that that was his brother not twenty feet away. He was the only thing that was real in Sasuke's life, and he didn't want to lose him. Tears started streaming from Sasuke's eyes uncontrollably as he unconditionally accepted his brother and believed what he had heard, that his brother had done what he had done to save his life.  
With every step Sasuke took, the pure hatred he had originally harbored toward his brother melted away, eventually melting away to that of pure awe of his brother, the same awe he had felt for his brother before their lives had been turned upside down that fateful night their parents and the rest of the Uchiha Clan were killed.  
"Oniisan," Sasuke called out to his brother. His voice was filled with great pride for his brother, great pride in himself, "Oniisan! It's me! I'm coming!"  
Itachi didn't respond to Sasuke's voice for he could no longer hear, all his senses long gone. As Sasuke got closer, he noticed Itachi's lips moving but had trouble reading exactly what he was saying. When they were not five feet away, Sasuke was able to read Itachi's lips.  
'I'm sorry I wasn't there for you' Itachi had mouthed 'I'm sorry I wasn't a good brother'  
Sasuke saw Itachi reach his arms up and out, as if to embrace his brother, to give him the hug he had always wanted to give him, the kind of hug a big brother would give a little brother.  
Sasuke gritted his teeth as he used sheer willpower to force his own arms up to embrace his older brother.  
Not five feet from each other, not one step before they were in each other's arms, Itachi fell down onto both knees and slumped in an upright position. He couldn't go on.  
Sasuke found himself just standing there, his arms wide open. Itachi had gotten so close but couldn't reach him, unable to take that last and final step. All he could do was mouth his parting words.  
'Farewell...little brother'  
With that said, Itachi closed his eyes and died.

new stuff 4/29

Shizune groaned as she opened her eyes. She found herself staring straight down into the ground, her face buried in the grass. She had been unconscious while on her stomach.  
She winced in pain as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, the back of her head throbbing intensely.  
I was hit there, Shizune quickly processed what had happened right before everything had gone black for her. When she realized she had been in the middle of battle with the blind swordsman, she looked around in hopes of ascertaining where she was or what exactly had happened after she had been knocked out.  
Glancing over to the side, she saw the unconscious bodies strewn about. She also caught sight of the blind swordsman as he just stood there motionlessly. Seeing him caused Shizune to quickly spring into action, reaching into the folds of her outfit and producing a dagger, throwing it straight at the man's throat.  
The man made no attempt to dodge as the dagger pierced his neck, exiting through the back, arching through the air where it eventually disappeared in the distance.  
The wound in the neck seemed to open up but not blood flowed out. Instead, the man seemingly evaporated right into the air, like the way an ash statue would disappear after a strong gush of wind. Shizune was confused for a moment, before she realized that the blind swordsman had somehow been defeated by someone else shortly after she had been knocked out.  
Looking around, she saw Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee lying about, all of them unconscious. A short distance away she saw Sasuke as he had his arms wrapped around his brother, his brother unmoving, his arms at his side, seemingly unable to return the embrace.  
I-Itachi's dead. What's going on here, Shizune thought. What happened here? She looked at Sasuke and noticed he was unmoving, as if frozen in a perpetual embrace of his brother. It provided for quite a sight, to see Sasuke lovingly embracing his brother. She didn't really understand why he was doing so. That is... Sasuke found out the truth, she realized. Sasuke found out what his brother had gone through to save his life. That can only explain it.  
She winced as she got up to her feet and walked over to where Sasuke was. Sasuke made no attempts to move as she got close to him, as if he didn't care who was approaching him from behind.  
Up close, Shizune realized that Sasuke was unconscious, having sobbed himself to sleep as he held his brother. Tears were still moist on the young boy's cheek.  
Shizune noticed the blood pouring from Sasuke's wounds.  
He didn't cry himself to sleep, he passed out from loss of blood!  
Shizune quickly forced Sasuke's embrace from his brother, finding it rather difficult to do so and laid the young boy down. She checked his pulse and found none.  
"Damn, he's not breathing!" Shizune said.  
She proceeded to administer CPR. She was glad she remembered that techniques. While it looked rather archaic from that of administering ki to resuscitate someone, it was all that she had left. She had no more ki to use, having expended what little she had remaining attempting to fight the blind swordsman, before eventually becoming overwhelmed by his power.  
She continued to administer CPR, compressing his chest fifteen times before breathing three breaths into his mouth, hoping against hope that she wouldn t be too late.  
Shizune felt tears flowing from her eyes as she knew she was going to lose this battle to save someone's life. While she was used to death and not being able to save everyone's life, Sasuke's life meant a lot to her.  
Itachi had gone through all that he had gone through to save his little brother's life. It should not end here, not like shit. Sasuke must live. Itachi's death should not be in vain.  
As she continued to administer CPR, she heard a rustle from some nearby bushes behind her.  
If one of the Akatsuki has found us, then this is going to be really bad, she thought. Everyone else is unconscious and I'm by myself. Almost all of my chakra is gone. There's no way I can put protect everyone by myself or put up a fight for that matter.  
"S-Shizune," she heard Ranma's voice.  
Shizune's heart skipped a beat as she recognized Ranma's voice. She glanced around and was shocked at was she saw. Ranma looked like hell. He was covered in blood and there were lacerations all over his body and face. It was a shock that he was even standing considering how badly he looked. Most people would've died from shock after receiving half the injuries Ranma had.  
She watched as Ranma slowly, and obviously painfully, made his way toward where she was. She had wanted to get up to run to him and help him but knew Sasuke needed her help more. Instead, she stayed where she was and continued to administer CPR.  
"W-what happened here?" Ranma asked weakly, his breathing labored. He noticed unconscious bodies strewn about. When he caught sight of Itachi's still form, a deep sense of sadness became evident on his face, "Itachi's dead,"  
He noticed that Itachi's face looked at peace, as if he accepted his death willingly. This made Ranma smile and no longer feel sad for Itachi. Itachi found peace in death and Ranma was happy that Itachi found that peace. He would not feel sorry for Itachi. Instead, he felt rather proud of the young man.  
"Sasuke's heart stopped! I can't resuscitate him!" Shizune shouted, more to herself than to Ranma. Ranma seemed to became renewed with vigor as he seemed to forget his injuries and rushed forward to where Shizune was, kneeling down right next to her.  
"Shit, you're right," Ranma said in concern.  
"I'm completely out of chakra," Shizune said weakly, cursing her dependency upon the usage of ki and not her own bare hands, "I would be able to resuscitate him if I had chakra to spare,"  
"Here, I'll give you some of mine," Ranma extended a hand and placed it on her shoulder.  
Shizune's eyes widened as she felt this massive surge of energy entering her, coursing through every fiber of her body. She felt her fatigue instantly disappear, replaced with renewed vigor, a refreshing feeling akin to that of a perfect night's sleep.  
Shizune looked at her arms and hands and saw that they were glowing. She saw shadows of her extended arms on the ground, as if her body was generating its own light.  
Ranma slumped to the ground as if completely exhausted, "Go, that should be enough,"  
Shizune still seemed to be in a state of shock at seeing herself glowing and the aura of immense power within her seemingly wanting to escape from every pore in her body. There was so much power within her that she didn't really know what to do with it. It made her wonder if this was how one felt right before throwing a massive ki-blast.  
"Go!" Ranma shouted, snapping her out of her reverie, "You don't have time to waste!"  
Realizing that Ranma had somehow transferred some of his ki into her body, she turned her attention onto Sasuke. With a fresh supply of ki, she would now be able to do her job effectively.  
She placed a hand on Sasuke's chest and envisioned her ki passing from her hands and into Sasuke's body, wrapping itself around his heart and proceeding to massage it right through the ribcage.  
Her eyes widened as she saw Sasuke starting to glow faintly much like she was currently glowing. It made her wonder if the ki Ranma had given her was some kind of special ki than the one she was used to, if it was some more pure and powerful version.  
Within seconds, far quicker than she expected, Sasuke's heart started again as he started to breathe on his own again. When she pulled her hand away from his chest, she saw the trail of ki flowing from her hand. She moved her hand back and forth and noticed the trail of ki following.  
She noticed the faint aura around Sasuke slowly starting to dim, eventually disappearing. She noticed her own aura started to dim as well, eventually disappearing too. However, even though she stopped glowing, she still felt full of ki.  
Now I get it, Shizune realized. Ranma gave me more chakra than my body could handle so I glowed from the chakra escaping it. Now that all the excess chakra has dissipated into the environment, I no longer glow like before. "Thanks, Ranma. That was incredible," she said, turning her attention toward Ranma.  
When she looked at him, she saw Ranma in a slumped position, unmoving, much similar to the position she had seen Itachi.  
Her heart skipped a beat as she reluctantly reached out and gave Ranma a nudge, "Ranma?"  
Ranma fell over on to his side, unmoving.  
Shizune gasped, fearing the worst, "Ranma! No!"  
Ranma screamed as if startled awake, quickly sitting upright, "What? What is it?"  
"Y-you're alive," Shizune felt a wave of relief.  
"Of course I am," Ranma said yawning, "What, you think I'd give you all my ki and let myself die in the process of doing so? I'm just tired. I gave you almost all of my energy and I need some sleep to regain some of the ki I gave you,"  
"Sleep? You intend to sleep now?" Shizune said.  
Ranma yawned again, closing his eyes, "Yeah. I need some rest and the best way to regain a good chunk of my lost energy is to sleep,"  
"How can you sleep at a time like now?" Shizune nearly shouted, gesturing toward the unconscious bodies around the field, "There are Akatsuki members around looking for us. Almost everyone is unconscious. Itachi's dead. Sasuke almost died. And you're going to sleep? I ask again, how can you possible sleep at a time like now?"  
Ranma seemed somewhat angry, "Because my recovering my energy is very important. I gave everyone a once-over and they're all fine. Neji and Lee are cut up but it's not life threatening. Sasuke's in bad but stable condition. Itachi's dead but it seems like he's at peace. While we could be better off than we are now, we could be in far worse condition if I don't recover my energy,"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"I don't sense any Akatsuki about and the two I was dealing with I took care of temporarily and we won't hafta worry about them for a short while," Ranma said.  
"Who?" Shizune asked.  
"The leader and this woman with blond hair," Ranma said.  
"How?" Shizune asked curiously.  
"It's not important," Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "What's important is that I sense no Akatsuki about so that can give me a few minutes to get some much needs sleep and recover some much needed ki, provided you let me do so,"  
Ranma didn't want to speak of how he defeated his opponents because he was actually ashamed of it. Because Ranma didn't believe in hitting girls, he had hoped to defeat the both of them without resorting to actually hitting them, but it eventually led to that. When Ranma realized that he had to cross the line and hit the two women, he resorted to hit-trading. Hit-trading was an insanely deadly tactic that Ryoga had pioneered that Ranma later incorporated into his own arsenal of martial arts tactics. Whenever Ryoga and Ranma fought, Ryoga had this nasty tactic of purposely leaving himself open for attack. That way, when Ranma saw the opening and would seize the opportunity and attack, Ranma was left wide open and within range for a counter attack. Afterall, to hit someone, that meant they were in range to be hit as well.  
Ryoga knew he was physically stronger and more resilient than Ranma so he always came out of a hit-trade advantageous. Ryoga had a nasty counter punch which had ended many sparring matches against Ranma decisively, knocking Ranma out for hours at a time.  
Over time, to combat Ryoga's propensity for using the hit-trade tactic, Ranma learned to use his Kashuu Tenshin Amaguriken ability on reaction. If he ever saw Ryoga open and noticed that Ryoga purposely left himself open to do a hit-trade, the Kashuu Tenshin Amaguriken would inflict more damage to Ryoga than Ryoga could possibly return with a counter.  
Against the blond woman and Himitsu, Ranma had used his Hiryu Shoten Ha as a form of distraction to get close to them. Rather than dodge Himitsu's ki-based attack, he simply took it and returned a counter attack, an open palm blow right to her chest which sent her flying bodily backwards into a tree, knocking her unconscious.  
When the blond woman realized what had happened, she sent a barrage of projectiles toward him in retaliations. Rather than dodge, ran straight toward her, allowing himself to be struck by those projectiles to get close enough to attack and struck her with an open-palm strike to her chest as well, sending her flying and slamming into a nearby tree, knocking her out as well. This was what he looked like Hell, because he let himself get hit by her projectiles to get close to her instead of simply dodging them.  
After he had defeated the both of them, he took removed their shoes before heading off to look for Shizune and the others. Afterall, without shoes to protect the bottom of their feet, walking around in the forest would be difficult and slow. He knew they would be up and about before long but having no shoes was a good way of slowing them down.  
He had contemplated stripping them naked and using some blood from all the cuts he had to draw an arrow on their stomachs pointing toward their private area and write 'Ranma was here' simply to freak them out when they came to but felt it was just mean even for him.  
Shizune understood what Ranma was implying and said, "All right. I'll let you sleep. I'll go heal Sasuke's wounds and will wake you up if anyone shows up,"  
"Thanks," Ranma said before closing his eyes and going to sleep while still in a sitting position.  
Shizune regarded Ranma for a moment. She still didn't understand how someone could possible bring themselves to go to sleep in a situation like this. Was Ranma that battle-hardened that something like this doesn't bother him.  
She looked at the cuts on Ranma's arms and face and wondered if she should proceed to heal them while he slept. After a moment, she decided against it because she believed it bothered her more that Ranma was so injured than it probably bothered Ranma.  
She proceeded to tend to Sasuke's wounds, placing her hands over his wounds and using ki to mend the severed nerves and arteries and close the wound. As she did so, she caught sight of Ton-Ton as the pig could be seen running straight toward them from some nearby bushes.  
"Ton-Ton, there you are," Shizune was glad to see Ton-Ton was okay. She felt a bit angry with herself for having forgotten about Ton-Ton until now.  
Funnily enough, Ton-Ton, now seeing that Ranma was around, felt it safe to come out of hiding. The pig ran right up to Ranma where it laid down on its belly and promptly went to sleep.  
Shizune stared at Ton-Ton for a moment wondering how the pig could be going to sleep as well. Was she the only one that found it strange that someone or something could relax giving their current situation?  
"Ranma, we have company," Shizune said.  
Ranma yawned as he stretched his arms, opening his eyes.  
He felt refreshed, ready to resume battle, "Man, what a nice nap. How long was I sleeping?"  
"About twenty minutes," Shizune answered. She was surprised to see that Ranma looked almost perfectly fine, his injuries having healed naturally. The only person she had ever seen with such a rapid healing factor was Tsunade, but that was because she was capable of healing herself. Ranma, on the other hand, did nothing but sleep.  
"I feel good, that sleep did me some good," Ranma got to his feet, "Now, you said we have company?"  
Shizune said nothing, surprised how Ranma could go from sleeping peacefully to battle-ready in a few seconds. He looked perfectly alert and ready to react to anything.  
"Seems like someone wants to challenge you," Shizune said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder.  
Ranma glanced over her shoulder where he caught sight of a little old man that was carrying a small box on his back standing near the outskirts of the clearing. "He said he wants to challenge you one-on-one," Lee said.  
"Ah, Lee, you're awake," Ranma smiled. He noticed Lee was up and about as well as Neji and Shikamaru. All of them were healed of their wounds, only the blood and dirt on their clothes giving off any indications that they had been in battle in the first place.  
He noticed Naruto and Sasuke were both unconscious. It seemed like Naruto had taken a lot more damage than he thought. Then again, Ranma was not aware that Naruto had sacrificed his body to protect Sasuke from death countless times when the tattooed man had been trying to kill Sasuke all that time.  
The boys had woken up a good five minutes ago but made no noise when Shizune indicated that they want to be quiet and not wake up Ranma. "What's going on around here?" Ranma asked, "What's the situation?"  
"The old man appeared from out of nowhere," Shizune gestured toward a figure a short distance away.  
Lee said, "He stated that he had been looking for you and wants to fight you one-on-one,"  
"Me? He's challenging me in a one-on-one fight?" Ranma was surprised, "Wow, now that's a surprise,"  
Ranma looked down to one end of the clearing where he saw a little old man with a box on his back. For some odd reason, the old man reminded him of Happousai. They looked not one bit alike, it was just that Ranma couldn't quickly recall fighting a little old man besides Happousai.  
"I'm not interested in fighting," Ranma said.  
The old man proceeded to do sign language.  
"Sign language, huh?" Ranma said, "Hm, I've never fought against a person that was mute before,"  
"You understand sign language?" Lee asked. For some odd reason, he figured he would be the only one there aware of it. Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I learned it a long time ago. It's good for dexterity,"  
"I agree," Lee grinned, feeling glad that he and Ranma shared something in common.  
"It's awesome to know sign language, especially when you're with someone and you need to give commands silently," Ranma said, "I'm not talking about hand gestures that covert operatives use. I'm talking about giving and receiving specific instructions. Anyway, now's not really the time to talk about it,"  
Ranma turned his attention toward the old man and smiled, "Are you sure you want to challenge me?"  
The old man nodded.  
"Okay, fine," Ranma said, "I accept your challenge,"  
Ton-Ton, having awoken at the same time as Ranma, could be seen sniffing the air.  
"Why are you going to fight him?" Shizune asked, "You can just as easily decline the challenge,"  
Ranma said, "I'm a martial artist. I was formally challenged. It'd be a crying shame if I were to decline. For him to challenge me would mean he's either crazy or extremely confident in his abilities. I'm hoping it's the latter,"  
"It's actually a very smart move on his part," Shikamaru commented nonchalantly, "If he challenges Ranma, it'll only be him versus Ranma. He won't have to worry about us interfering,"  
"You're right," Lee said, "But still, this is Ranma we are talking about. He will win,"  
Shikamaru shrugged, "Are you sure? We have no idea what this guy is capable of. Keep in mind what Neji mentioned during our brief encounter with him earlier,"  
Concerning what Neji was able to discern during their first encounter with the old man, he had said, "It's really hard to say. I was using my Byakugan to check him out but there was no presence to him, no chakra within him. I knew I was definitely seeing him, but I didn't see nor sense anything beyond the person that was standing in front of me. It know I was seeing him, but my senses was telling me like he wasn t there,"  
"I guess he's just a shadow image," Lee had commented.  
"No. If he was, I would've noticed the chakra," Neji then responded, "Whatever I saw, it was something I've never seen before,"  
They all remembered that encountered, especially because Neji's comment the found rather disturbing.  
"Whatever the case, the old man has the element of surprise on his side," Shikamaru commented, "He's most likely observed Ranma and the way he fights while Ranma, much like us, have no idea what his special abilities are. Even if Ranma is more powerful, the old man's element of surprise might prove a decisive advantage should he reveal his abilities at the right opportunity,"  
Ranma smiled at Shikamaru, "You've got a good sense of logic there, Shikamaru. I like the way you can analyze situations and come up with a conclusion,"  
Ranma was reminded of Ritsuko for some reason. She was great at analyzing situations and providing useful information simply based on her ability to observe and use details before commenting on something.  
"Don't worry, I've also got the element of surprise on my side, too," Ranma winked, "What I use I use simply based on preference. Afterall, if the way I fight works well, I'll continue to use it until I hafta change it up. Besides, just from observation, I already know at least one of his special abilities,"  
"You do?" Shikamaru asked. He believed he had an excellent sense of observation but could detect nothing to the old man. What did Ranma observe that Shikamaru didn't?  
"He can conceal his presence perfectly," Ranma said, "He can conceal it so perfectly that even I can't detect it. That means one of two things, that he's some kind of martial arts master capable of masking his aura beyond that of Ryoga's capabilities, or he's a ghost,"  
"A ghost?" everyone asked in unison.  
"It's either one or the other," Ranma shrugged, "I've fought ghosts before and I've fought opponents capable of concealing their aura. Either way, I have experience fighting both kinds of opponents,"  
"You've fought ghosts before?" Shikamaru asked.  
"Yeah, I've fought tons of things over the course of my life," Ranma shrugged, "Monsters, Boomers, demons, ghosts, Angels, EVAs...I've fought plenty of things before. Fighting a ghost doesn't bother me none,"  
So long as Ranma didn't have to fight some giant Cat-Demon, he felt up to fighting anything that was thrown his way. This annoyed Ranma because, for such a great fighter, he sure had a stupid weakness. Luckily, it was highly unlikely someone would throw a cat in his face in the heat of battle so Ranma wasn't all that worried.  
Realizing that he had been digressing, Ranma turned his attention back onto the old man, "Once again, are you positive you want to challenge me?" The old man nodded again. The old man did seem a bit annoyed that Ranma seemed to have noticed one of his special abilities simply through observation, but it didn't bother him too much. Ranma shrugged, "Okay, have it your way," He turned toward the group, "Okay, wait here and watch over Naruto and Sasuke. I'll be right back,"  
As Ranma was about to walk away from the group to approach the old man for combat, Ton-Ton squealed.  
"Bwee! Bwee!" Ton-Ton seemed anxious.  
"Something the matter, Ton-Ton?" Shizune asked curiously, noticing the pig's distressed attempts at getting Ranma's attention.  
Ranma turned around and started walking back toward the group again, his gaze on Ton-Ton.  
"You sure?" Ranma asked.  
Ton-Ton nodded. Everyone watched as Ton-Ton snorted toward Ranma and Ranma nodded in understanding toward the pig.  
"All right," Ranma said to the pig, "I'll take your word for it,"  
Ranma could be seen facing in what looked like a random direction from the group.  
"You said around a hundred and five feet away from us, right?" Ranma asked Ton-Ton.  
Ton-Ton nodded.  
"What are they talking about?" Shikamaru asked, scratching his head in confusion. The others simply shrugged, also confused.  
They watched as Ranma knelt down and placed both hands on the ground.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" Ranma shouted, releasing a large amount of his ki into the ground.  
Everyone looked in the general direction Ranma was facing and saw a massive explosion of dirt and rocks and trees flying up into the air exactly one hundred and five feet away from where Ranma was kneeling. Everyone caught sight of two people flying upward into the air along with all the debris. Ranma grinned as he recognized both individual. They were the blond woman and Himitsu. It seemed like Ton-Ton was right, that they had been indeed hiding exactly a hundred and five feet away from there, awaiting for an opportunity to attack.  
Everyone watched as the two people fell back down to the ground, disappearing into the dense forest below them. They all turned their attention toward Ranma, who happened to have a big grin on his face.  
Ranma stood up and turned his attention toward the old man, who now looked visibly bothered at what he had just witness.  
"That's a nice plan you three had set up," Ranma chuckled, kneeling down and patting Ton-Ton's back, "You purposely challenged me to lure me away from the group so two of your friends could execute a sneak attack on Shizune's group and capture Naruto or kill Sasuke or both. It's too bad you didn't anticipate that Ton-Ton here would detect your two friends and warn me,"  
Everyone had this look of surprise and awe on their faces. It was almost unreal what they were witnessing, that Ranma was able to figure out an obvious ambush and preemptively strike. While Ranma did look young, it was obvious they were looking at a skilled fighter with experience well beyond his age. "The problem with being an 'evil' team is that they are never really good with teamwork since everyone usually thinks of themselves," Ranma laughed, "I must say, for you guys to come up with such a plan, while a bit simplistic, is rather surprising. I guess it's because of your leader. It's too bad, as well laid out as your plans were, you failed to take into consideration Ton-Ton's sense of smell," Ranma laughed, finding the situation hilarious. The old man did a few more signs.  
"Man, that man sure seems to not hold back in terms of using explicit words," Lee seemed rather embarrassed, as if he was surprised that adults used language like that.  
Ranma flipped the old man a middle finger, a grin on his face, "Well, fuck you also,"  
Everyone looked at one another. While it wasn't uncommon for someone to swear, it was surprising to see someone so nonchalantly, as if they could say those words much like the way someone could talk about the weather.  
The old man could be seen fuming.  
Ranma made a shooing motion, "Go away, old man. Go steal some women's panties and be perverted elsewhere. You're not wanted here,"  
"Women's panties?" Shizune gave Ranma and odd look, recalling the incident at the bathhouse where Ranma tried to make Naruto steal her and Tsunade's underwear, pretending it was some form of special training for the young boy.  
"What's with you and women's panties?" she asked, narrowing her eyes toward him.  
Ranma gave Shizune an odd look, "You're kidding me, right? Did you not hear what I just said to the old man? Do you have selective hearing and only heard 'women's panties' and decided that was enough ask me such a question? Has it never occurred to you that I was merely taunting the old man?"  
Shizune still eyed Ranma suspiciously. Ranma threw his hands up in the air, "Aw screw it! I'm not even gonna try and explain myself!"  
He turned his attention onto the old man and extended a hand toward him, shooting a ki-blast right at him. The old man was struck by the blast where he was sent flying bodily backwards, passing right through a tree in the process and disappearing into the woods.  
"Ah, I was right, he is a ghost," Ranma grinned. He had the sneaking suspicious that the old man wasn't a martial artist.  
He picked up Ton-Ton and proceeded to walk in the direction where the explosion had occurred, "You're too useful to let outta my sight, Ton-Ton. I'm gonna bring you along with me,"  
"Where are you going?" Shikamaru asked.  
Ranma said, "Do you really hafta ask? I just used my Bakusai Tenketsu Revised technique to, hopefully, knock out two of the Akatsuki. I'm gonna go check on them to make sure they've been knocked out to make sure they won't be a bother for us for the moment. I'm bringing Ton-Ton with me so the pig can keep track of the both of them, in case one tries to slip by me to go after you guys. There are four of you, you guys should be able to take care of one opponent,"  
While Ranma felt a bit uncomfortable leaving the children and Shizune to deal with the old man, he knew they were capable ninjas. He didn't need to baby-sit them which was a huge load off his shoulders. Sure, Naruto and Sasuke were nearby and needed protection, but Ranma was pretty sure the group was capable of protecting them.  
Besides, it was better off this way since Ranma was pretty sure he was the only one capable of dealing with Himitsu and needed to head her off before she got close enough to the group. He could deal with the blond woman and Himitsu. The problem was that dealing with the blond woman and Himitsu when the group was nearby and in danger of getting attacked by either of them was not something he wanted to happen, not if he could head them off. He had a funny feeling that the blond woman would be out of commission for a short while so he only needed to worry about Himitsu. He knew Himitsu would not be knocked out. He was confident that something like that would barely even faze her. Sure, it probably did catch her off guard, but it was definitely not something that would knock someone of her abilities unconscious.  
"Here's a tip, the old man's a ghost. Don't bother attacking the old man with conventional weapons," Ranma stated, "Only ki-based attacks will work,"  
Ton-Ton tucked under his arm, satisfied that he had given the one hint that would give the group a decisive edge in their battle, Ranma disappeared into the forest.

Ranma approached the blond woman from behind as she seemed to be in a disoriented state as she proceeded to slowly get back up to her feet. She had been caught completely off guard by that earthly explosion and hit the ground hard upon impact.  
"Damn, Ton-Ton, she's exactly where you said she was," Ranma was genuinely impressed, "That nose of your is awesome. It saves so much time over randomly running around looking for someone,"  
Ton-Ton smiled happily at the compliment.  
"Right now you said the other one seems to be staying in the same place, right?" Ranma placed Ton-Ton down on the ground, "Please, let me know if the other girl starts heading in the direction of Shizune and the group,"  
Ton-Ton nodded before heading off and disappearing into the nearby bushes.  
"Don't wander far off to far," Ranma said, "Because you obviously give me or the group and edge, the Akatsuki might target you,"  
Ranma chuckled. He found that very funny. A lone pig seemed to give Ranma and the others an edge against the Akatsuki Organization, which was considered the most powerful group of ninjas in the world. Not even Ranma would have anticipated that a pig could prove so useful.  
Ranma noticed the blond woman didn't seem to have noticed that he was behind her. As he regarded her, he noticed she had rather luscious, albeit odd, hair. Her hair didn't fall down around her shoulders and back like normal hair. It seemed to just hover there, as if there was some kind of invisible wind blowing from below keeping it in a perpetual fluttering state.  
"How does your hair do that?" Ranma asked. The blond woman quickly turned around, recognizing Ranma's voice. She couldn't believe Ranma had managed to sneak up behind her. When she noticed how close he was, the blood drained from her face as she realized he was well within her zone of attack.  
From anywhere beyond ten feet of her opponent, she was absolutely deadly, so much so that even Ranma had trouble fighting against her and would not walk away unscathed. If her opponent was anywhere within that range, she was basically harmless.  
They regarded each other briefly. Ranma noticed that she was a lot more attractive now that he was close to her. She reminded him a bit of that supermodel named Melinda that he bumped into every here and there around this bookstore he frequented for Martial Arts magazines every here and there. The woman before him had blue eyes and olive skin. While she wasn't necessarily top-heavy, she did had a nice figure regardless and was obviously in shape.  
"Die!" the woman shouted as she reached into the folds of her clothes and produced a dagger, slashing at Ranma's face. It was a wide and careless slash and Ranma noticed she was unaccustomed to using such a weapon, perhaps never having used it before. Her slashing form was all off and left her wide open and her attacks could be easily anticipated.  
Ranma simply caught the dagger between his index finger and middle finger, holding it fast. The woman tried to pull the dagger away much to no avail.  
She's also physically weak, Ranma thought. It seems like she's completely harmless from close range. It's a whole 'nother story from medium and long range.  
With a quick flick of the wrist, Ranma pulled the dagger out of her hands.  
"From what I gather, close range is definitely not your forte," Ranma grinned, casually throwing the dagger up and down in one hand, "What's your name?"  
"It's none of your concern," the woman sneered at him.  
Ranma peered into her eyes for a moment. She tried to glare back at him but found his piercing blue eyes perturbing, as if they were peering into her soul and able to see all the horrible things she had done over the course of her life.  
He leaned against a nearby tree, "I have a question to ask you,"  
"I have nothing to say to you," she spat.  
"Jeez, such animosity," Ranma feigned hurt feelings.  
The blond woman quickly turned around and proceeded to run away, hoping to get far enough away from him so she could use her special projectile attacks. However, as she was running back, Ranma threw a dagger toward her, the dagger catching one of the sleeves to her outfit, pinning her against the tree.  
She reached over in an attempt to pull the dagger out but found herself unable to, the dagger deeply embedded within the tree all the way to its handle. This made Ranma realize she was actually unnaturally physically weak, even for a woman.  
Ranma grinned as he walked over to where the woman was and crouched low around her backside and pretended he was trying to grab at her butt, "Gee, I wonder what you look under those clothes,"  
The woman blushed a deep shade of red as she tried to kick at him as she continued to struggle to free herself from against the tree. Ranma simply dodged her kicks. After a moment, he realized what he was doing and stopped.  
"Jeez, what the heck am I doing?" Ranma said basically to himself, "If I keep teasing her, knowing my luck, she would suddenly developed feelings for me and try and become my fianc ,"  
"What?" the blond woman shouted, "I would never develop feelings for you!"  
"Good," Ranma said, "Let's keep it that way. Anyway, back to the question, why are you a part of the Akatsuki Organization?"  
He already knew why, having peered deeply into her eyes and extracted the information he needed. While he respected a person's right to privacy, in a situation like this, he made an exception. He knew she wouldn't allow him to check into her past and decided to do so against her will. He hoped that there was a way to convince her to leave the Akatsuki Organization for he knew she would eventually be killed if she continued on remaining associated with such a group.  
"It's none of your business!" she shouted at him.  
"Does it have anything to do with you having been exiled from your home village for a murder you didn't commit and joining the Akatsuki Organization purely for vengeance?" Ranma asked. Strangely enough, the woman had a past very much like Orochimaru but had been exiled for a different reason. Also, she remained with the Akatsuki Organization where Orochimaru had left.  
The blond woman said nothing, surprised that he seemed to know something about her. How was that possible? How did he know about her yet she knew nothing about him?  
While he wasn't want to judge a person, Ranma felt the blond woman seemed to be a bit messed up in the head. She had been accused and exiled for a murder she did not commit. She had been misunderstood but was no murderer. It wasn't until after she became powerful enough after join the Akatsuki Organization did she become a murderer. It was as if clearing her name never occurred to her over than of swift vengeance on the village that has exiled her.  
"Everyone has skeletons in their closets," Ranma stated, "Me especially. It's still not too late for you to walk away from all of this. Some people have gotten themselves so far into it that there was no way they would ever walk away from this unscathed, Itachi definitely being one of them, but you still have a chance,"  
The blond woman laughed, "I don't know how you found out about my past, but it is none of your business how I choose to live my life,"  
Ranma's visage became cold as ice, "If you choose to remain on this path, then maybe you're better off dead,"  
Strangely enough, while Ranma never condoned death and would much prefer someone, anyone, live over that of death, he also believed the ends justified the means. After tonight, he felt more strongly about that belief.  
Itachi was now dead, most likely because Ranma had let someone live rather than kill them outright like Itachi had been doing so all along. Ranma's live and let live mentality, while noble, wasn't always the best premise to believe in, at least not on this world.  
Ranma reached out and pulled the dagger that was pinning her against the tree by the sleeve of her outfit.  
"Leave. Run away," Ranma said in a serious voice, "Leave the Akatsuki Organization. After tonight, they will be disbanded. I will see to it. It's the least I can do for a friend,"  
Ranma considered Itachi a friend in common experiences. He had a funny feeling that if he had been in Itachi's shoes, he would've done something similar. And if Itachi had been in Ranma's shoes, Itachi would've done something similar as well.  
The blond woman seemed to be in a state of shock that Ranma was releasing her. She wasn't expecting him to do something like that.  
She didn't move, wondering if it was some ruse.  
"Don't even think of running away and suddenly turning around and attacking me once you're at a far enough distance from me," Ranma said, casually flicking the dagger up and down in his hand, "Just leave here and never look back. You don't have your leader protecting you from my Bakusai Tenketsu Revised technique. It's obvious you already experienced how effective it is from a distance. I've already crossed the line and decided to I must resort to hitting women so don't think I won't use it again against you,"  
The blond woman said nothing, seemingly in deep thought about what to do. "Bweee! Bweee!" Ton-Ton could be heard grunting as the pig came running from some nearby bushes and straight toward Ranma.  
"What?" Ranma seemed shocked at what he was hearing, "She's here?"  
Ranma looked down at the ground as he saw it open up right below his feet, much like a crack suddenly opening up during an earthquake in movies.  
"Oh shit!" he said as he found himself falling straight down into the ground that opened up. It was a gigantic opening, as if the ground opened up like a giant mouth intent on swallowing him up.  
Ranma looked up at the opening and saw Ton-Ton peered down into the opening at Ranma as Ranma fell down.  
"Get away from here!" Ranma called out within the opened ground. He felt relief when he saw Ton-Ton's head disappear as the pig could be seen turning around and running away to hide.  
Ranma reached out, grabbing for purchase, grabbing a hold of a root from a tree sticking out the side wall of the opening. It seemed as if the ground was splitting apart but the roots remained intact, being stripped away from the dirt as the dirt parted. "Phew," Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, glad he had been standing near a tree when he fell. Otherwise, he probably would have fallen down into the darkness below him.  
As he stayed there for a second, trying to ascertain exactly what had happened or how Himitsu had done that, he looked forward and noticed the crack extended for as far as he could see, seeing roots from nearby trees jutting out from the walls of the crack as it extended forward.  
He heard a yelp behind him.  
"Help me!" he heard the blond woman's voice.  
Ranma glanced back where he saw the blond woman far deep down the crack. She was desperately clinging to a root with one hand, trying to reach up over her head with her other hand to get a better grasp, a look of fright on her face, as if she was scared of falling down into the darkness below her feet. When a person truly felt their life was about to end, their true nature usually showed.  
Bringing his feet up and against the root he was holding, Ranma propelled himself off the root, rocketing bodily straight toward where the woman was. He caught a branch near her with out hand, grabbing her hand with his other one just as she lost her grip.  
The woman latched on to Ranma's extended hand like his life depended on it, for it actually did. Her nails dug deeply into his forearm as she held his arm tightly.  
"Relax," Ranma said, his voice giving off a calming effect on the woman, "I've gotcha,"  
The blond woman seemed to relax for a moment. She had this look of shock on her face at seeing Ranma helping her. It didn't make sense. Why was he helping her, especially after what she had done to him. It was as if Ranma completely dismissed the fact that she had been vehemently trying to kill him just a short while ago. There wasn't a look of inward animosity toward her for her attempts on his life. There was a look of genuine altruism, as if he was willing to risk his life save her life.  
She watched him with wide-eyed awe as Ranma proceeded to climb his way up out of the opening in the ground with one hand, all the while still holding her dangling by his other hand.  
"That's some leader you've got there," Ranma commented wryly "It seems like she's willing to put you in harm's way to get a piece of me. Speaking of which, I didn't know your leader's capable of such power," Ranma climbed his way out of the opening and proceeded to pull her up and out of it as well. Ranma knew it was Himitsu that had open up the ground like that, having heard Ton-Ton's warning.  
"Ton-Ton!" Ranma suddenly remembered the pig. Ranma sensed a massive wave of ki flying straight toward him from behind. He turned around and caught sight of trees flying everywhere, being picked up into the air like a twig being picked up by a massive tsunami.  
While Ranma was only able to sense the impending wave of ki that would descend upon him, he saw dirt and trees and debris within the invisible force much like a tidal wave.  
"Oh shit!" Ranma said. Ranma brought his arms up to shield his face as the wave of ki crashed upon him with vicious force, sending him carrying him with it bodily backwards like the way an avalanche would carry a hapless skier caught in its deluge of white power.  
Ranma felt himself tumbling around and around in the invisible tsunami, crashing into tree after tree after tree after tree. He found himself, unable to do anything but tough it out. He felt rocks and dirt and everything under the sun crashing into him from the all sides. When the wave of ki finally washed over him, he found himself lying on his back, in great pain. Actually, he didn't recall feeling this much pain in a long long time. Even a pissed off Ryoga didn't deal this much pain in a single blow.  
"Ow," Ranma said weakly as he sat upright.  
He looked down at himself to see just how much damage had been inflicted upon him. His entire right arm was bent at an odd angle, dislocated at the shoulder and elbow. His right hip was dislocated as well as his left knee.  
No, broken bones, Ranma thought in relief. He couldn't believe his luck. He would have most likely have been knocked out utterly had he not recovered a substantial amount of ki from resting earlier. He now found himself very tired, having expended basically all of his ki protecting himself, to be able to survive such a powerful attack intact. Ranma tried to stand up using is one good leg but found himself unable to, a wave of nausea washing over him, causing him to regurgitate what he had eaten earlier as well as cough up a large quantity of blood.  
He looked about to take in his surroundings and was shocked at what he saw. There were no trees to the front or the left or the right of him for a good four hundred feet in all three direction, all of them having been uprooted or crushed into splinters under the massive pressure that wave of ki had created.  
Behind him he saw a massive forty foot tall pile of uprooted trees that were piled on top of one another in a chaotic order. It looked much like a beaver dam with uprooted tree trunks used instead of branches and twigs. It looked almost exactly like a grander scale of that of a beaver dam.  
"Damn, I can't believe how strong that woman is," Ranma referred to Himitsu, "I completely underestimated what she was capable of. Damn, I'd rather get hit with a Dragon Slave than another one of those things again,"  
While Ranma knew she was strong, he didn't anticipate that she was that strong. Little did Ranma realize that the Himitsu he had been dealing with had been weakened from the exorbitant amount of her energy she had used dealing with Naruto just before her encounter with Ranma. And not only that, she had spent a great deal of energy withstanding several attacks from Yondaime, the same kinds of attacks that had temporarily knocked Ranma out for a brief moment when Yondaime managed to hit Ranma from behind, catching him off guard.  
Ranma hadn't anticipated that Himitsu had recovered within minutes after Ranma had knocked her out and spent most of the time meditating and regaining all her lost energy. Her last encounter made her realized she needed to fight Ranma with everything she had and the only way to do so was recover all the energy she had expended fighting needless battles like dealing with that annoying Naruto, Orochimaru's subordinates, Yondaime's attacks, protecting the blond woman from Ranma's attempted counter attacks, and other miscellaneous expenditures of her energy.  
Ranma proceeded to pop all his joints back into place, gritting his teeth in pain as he used his one good arm to first pop his shoulder back into place, then moving on to popping the elbow back into its place, then moving on to pop his hip as knee back into its place.  
When all his joints were back into place, he stood up and took a deep breath, but winced in pain.  
"Shit," Ranma said, holding his side, "Two cracked ribs,"  
While he was glad that they weren't broken, he knew that if he put too much physical stress on his body, they would surely break. After he took a moment to compose himself, he caught sight of a body lying a short distance away. Ranma felt both sadness and anger for he knew that the blond woman he had saved just before had been caught in the wave of ki meant for him and had been killed in the process. He felt sad that she had died in the process but also angry at that Himitsu probably didn't think twice about attacking Ranma even though her fellow team member would surely be caught in the attack and killed in the process.  
Ranma spat some blood from his face as he got to his feet and started walking in the general direction where the wave of ki had originated, intent on finding Himitsu. He didn't care that he was badly hurt. He had every intention of returning the pain he and the blond woman had felt from that attack tenfold.  
Ranma glowed red with anger.  
"That's it, all bets are off. I'm gonna kill her!"  
Himitsu caught sight of Ranma as he could be seen walking toward her from across the massive wasteland that used to be a forest. She had a funny feeling that Ranma would not be knocked out by such an attack. Ton-Ton was squealing as it tried to struggle free from the invisible vice-  
grip that a hold it in. It was hovering in the air next to Himitsu, its legs thrashing about as if trying to struggle free, much to no avail.  
"Let Ton-Ton go!" Ranma said, his voice icy cold.  
Himitsu noticed the glowing aura around Ranma and could even sense his animosity toward her but didn t seem fazed by it. "It seems like the tables have been turned," Himitsu smirked, recalling the time when Ranma had used Yondaime as a hostage to manipulate her, "Now I'll show you how it feels to see someone take a hostage of someone, or something in this case,"  
Himitsu made a motion with her hand toward Ton-Ton. A loud snap could be heard as one of Ton-Ton's limbs was ripped right off its body. The pig gave out a high pitched squeak as its leg was precariously thrown to the side like discarded garbage.  
"You fucking monster!" Ranma shouted with rage.  
"Stay where you are!" Himitsu said coldly, "Or I'm going to rip your pet pig in half-to"  
Himitsu was just about rip off another one of Ton-Ton's legs to show her she meant business but was hit with a devastating punch. Ranma seemingly disappearing and reappearing right in front of her.  
Ranma hit Himitsu right in the face with all his might, intent of punching right through her skull and out its back, the bones in his right hand shattering from the impact, his two cracked ribs breaking from the extreme stress exerted from throwing such a powerful punch.  
Himitsu caught off guard by Ranma's lightning speed, wasn't able to capture him with her invisible ki, only having barely enough time to erect a barrier right in front of her to absorb most of the force of his attack.  
She ended up getting blown bodily backwards, slamming through countless trees, eventually slamming against one and falling to the ground, somewhat dazed but conscious. She had generated a protective barrier around her to protect her from all the tress she ended up slamming through so she managed to only becoming somewhat hurt from the attack as opposed to outright killed.  
She suddenly felt her life force being drained and glanced forward where she noticed Ton-Ton was still hovering in the air right where she had last left it. She had never released her invisible hold she had over Ton-Ton. She made sure because she knew the pig would be her trump card for use as a hostage.  
She felt herself slowly getting weak as she saw Ranma standing next to Ton-  
Ton, one of his hands held in the direction of the hovering pig, the arm of his shattered hand hanging limply by his side.  
He's absorbing my chakra, Himitsu realized. She quickly retracted her hold of the pig, fearful that Ranma would absorb all her energy and use it against her like Naruto had.  
No longer held by an invisible for, Ton-Ton fell toward the ground but was caught gently by Ranma with his good arm. The pig looked flushed as blood poured from the gaping wound that was now its missing limp.  
"Are you okay?" Ranma's was filled with concern as he picked up Ton-Ton's missing limb, "I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I should have been more careful. I never expected it to turn out like this,"  
Ranma hadn't anticipated that Himitsu would get the drop on him because it had never occurred to him that she possessed immense powers but had used a good portion of it dealing with other things before having to deal with him. Himitsu was like a totally different and significantly more powerful opponent now that she had had time to rest and recover most of the energy she had expended before she had to deal with Ranma.  
"Hang on, I'll get you help," Ranma said, holding Ton-Ton and the severed limb closely to his chest, not one bit bothered that he was getting drenched in the pig's blood. He turned around and headed in the direction of Shizune and her group.  
Himitsu had been in the process of getting back up to her feet.  
She glanced up and caught sight of Ranma running straight toward her. This was because, luckily for Ranma, she was in the direct path of Ranma and Shizune's group.  
As Ranma ran straight toward her, Himitsu extended her left a hand forward and pointed toward Ranma, releasing a thin laser-like stream of ki straight toward Ranma's chest, intent on piercing him right Ton-Ton as he held the pig and through his heart.  
To her surprise, Ranma moved slightly to the left, allowing the laser-like projectile to pierce right through his right shoulder. Little did she know that Ranma, realizing that his right hand was shattered and therefore useless, chose to let himself get struck in the right shoulder which would render his arm useless, just to get close to her. Her eyes widened in surprise as she quickly erected a barrier to protect her, expecting him to punch her again with the same devastating force as before. To her surprise, she felt nothing hit her. Instead, she saw Ranma as he seemed to run right by her, as if ignoring her, disappearing into the forest behind her.  
Himitsu turned around and gazed at the darkness where she saw Ranma disappear. She was about to extend her hand in the general direction and send out a massive wave of ki toward him, intent on hitting him from behind as he ran away from her but didn't when she felt a jolt of pain shooting up the side of her body.  
She also found it odd that when she lifted her arm, she didn t see her arm in front of her.  
Wondering what had just happened, she looked down at her body and noticed she was missing her left arm, seemingly ripped right off her body at the shoulder, blood pouring from the wound.  
For several long seconds, she just stared at her missing arm, wondering where it had gone. She looked down at the ground and noticed it just lying there, the fingers contorted as if it was pointing.  
As she looked at her wound, she realized that Ranma didn't just run right by her, that he had actually attacked her before she even realized what had happened.  
Without breaking a single stride, Ranma had momentarily released his hold on Ton-Ton to attack her and ripped Himitsu's left arm off at the left shoulder, and continued running forward, disappearing into the woods. He didn t have time to hang around and kill Himitsu. Ton-Ton needed help badly and time was of the essence.  
Himitsu fell to the ground, clutching at her bleeding shoulder area.  
"Ahhhhhh!"

Ranma winced in pain as he came running into the clearing where he had left Shizune and the others. Glancing around, he noticed no one was around, not even the unconscious Naruto or Sasuke. Itachi was there, now lying on his back, no longer in that kneeling slumped position, Shizune or the other's having done so simply out of respect to the dead.  
He looked down at his chest area and noticed that there were two sharp points pressing against his skin from underneath. It seemed like the broken ribs were trying to rip through his skin from underneath.  
"Where the hell did they go?" Ranma said in concern, ignoring his injury, "I don't have time for this,"  
Ton-Ton weakly snorted, telling Ranma where Shizune had gone, having picked up on Shizune's scent a second ago.  
"Thanks, but save your strength," Ranma said gently, "You'll be all right,"  
Fighting back the pain he was feeling from the gaping hole in his shoulder, his shattered hand, and his two broken ribs, Ranma ran in the general direction of where Ton-Ton had told him to go.  
As he ran, he noticed that he was having a lot of trouble running. His once dislocated hip was throbbing painfully, the muscles around it having been stretched and using pain to screaming at Ranma to quit putting so much stress on it. His breathing was labored, the broken ribs making it hard to do so. All in all, Ranma was in very bad shape. While his injuries weren't life threatening, they were still very serious regardless. Running through the woods, Ranma came across a large clearing that was definitely man-made, created through was seemed like a massive explosion. The giant crater in the middle of it and the trees tilting outward away from the crater was a good indication.  
A short distance off to the side of the crater, Ranma saw Lee struggling to his feet.  
"Lee!" Ranma quickly rushed over to the young boy, "What happened here?"  
"O-Orochimaru," Lee said weakly, "He came from out of nowhere,"  
"Shit, Orochimaru's here?" Ranma sword, angry at himself for having let Orochimaru off by knocking him out with a rock back then.  
Lee coughed some blood as he remained on his hands and knees, "While we were fighting that old man together, he snuck in from behind and took Sasuke. We tried chasing after him but it seems like Orochimaru thought ahead and booby trapped his escape route,"  
Lee felt angry at himself for having gotten caught in the trap. While it was elaborately placed, he should have detected it. He and Shizune had been chasing after Orochimaru when one of Orochimaru's traps went off. Lee's eyes widened in surprise when he saw Ranma's injuries, "Oh man, you've been injured,"  
"There's no time to worry about me. Where's Shizune?" Ranma asked, noticing that Lee was hurt but would otherwise live. He needed to find Shizune quickly. Things were spiraling out of control.  
"She went after Orochimaru," Lee said weakly, pointing, "She left about a minute ago,"  
Shizune and Lee had been chasing after Orochimaru when the trap went off. Shizune managed to avoid it but Lee didn t. She had paused for a short moment to see if Lee was okay, and after realizing that he was, continued on after Orochimaru.  
"Okay, I'll go after Shizune and Orochimaru," Ranma said, "I hope I make it in time. Shizune should be able to keep up with him and stall him until I get there,"  
Ranma remembered that Orochimaru was missing one arm. That could prove too much a handicap for someone of Orochimaru's strength to handle Shizune. Shizune was no slouch and, while she did expend some ki to heal everyone, she had a good amount of energy left from what Ranma had given her to fight.  
"Where's Neji, Naruto, and Shikamaru?" Ranma asked.  
"I'm not too sure," Lee said.  
Neji and Shikamaru weren't around because Shikamaru, having realized that the group had to split up, had decided it was best to take Naruto with him to some safe location to keep him safe while Neji remained behind to fight the old man. Ranma's tip had been very useful, so much so that Neji was able to avoid trying to figure out how to deal with the old man and go right on the offensive.  
"They were still fighting back at the field when Shizune-same and I took off after Orochimaru," Lee stated.  
"Okay," Ranma said.  
Since they weren't there when Ranma arrived at the clearing, it was obvious that their fight had taken off elsewhere. Whatever the case, Ranma would need to find them later, but not until after he helped out Ton-Ton.  
"Listen to me, once you get your bearings straight, run away," Ranma said quickly.  
"What?" Lee was surprised to hear this.  
"You're in mortal danger if you stay here," Ranma said flatly, "The leader of the Akatsuki Organization is nearby and will most likely recover from her injuries before long and come looking for me. If you happen to cross her path, you're as good as dead,"  
Lee gulped. The seriousness in the way Ranma said that made the young boy nervous.  
"Do you understand?" Ranma said, "Just get away from here,"  
"But what about the others?" Lee asked, "What about Shikamaru and Neji and Naruto?"  
Ranma started headed off in the direction Lee had pointed.  
"Let me worry about them,"  
Ranma heard the sounds of combat from nearby.  
Hoping it was Shizune and Orochimaru, Ranma quickened his pace. As he ran, he caught sight of shadows dancing among the treetops above. The sounds of clashing blades could be heard.  
Ranma squinted as he could make out the silhouetted of Shizune jumping back and forth between the tree branches, crossing paths with Orochimaru's silhouette. Sparks could be seen from the collision of blades between Shizune and Orochimaru.  
Ranma noticed that Orochimaru was carrying Sasuke with his one good arm and slashing at Shizune with a sword that was jutting out of his mouth.  
He could see them crossing paths back and forth as they seemed to be running away from him. It was obvious that Orochimaru was trying to lose Shizune but Shizune was constantly keeping up with him and attacking him, trying to get him to release his hold over the still unconscious Sasuke.  
Ranma bent down and picked up a rock and aimed carefully before throwing it at Orochimaru. Because Ranma was ambidextrous, he was just as accurate using his left arm as his right arm.  
The rock hit Orochimaru right in the back of the head while he was in mid-  
flight, causing him to momentarily become distracted where Shizune managed to land a slash on his good arm, causing Orochimaru to lose his hold over Sasuke.  
Sasuke lifelessly fell out of Orochimaru's arms where Shizune, realizing this, used a branch to propel herself and rocket toward Sasuke, catching him in mid-  
fall, twisting in the air and landing on the ground safely with him in her arms.  
Shizune had landed right in front of Ranma. As she stood up, she saw Ranma right in front of her.  
Ranma glanced upward toward the branch where Orochimaru had landed. Orochimaru looked downward in the direction of where the distraction had indicated and made eye contact with Ranma.  
"Che!" Orochimaru sneered, realizing that things had just gotten complicated. He noticed that Ranma was injured but was definitely smart enough to realize that he should not assume Ranma wasn't dangerous even while he was injured.  
Realizing that there was nothing he could do now that Ranma was there, Orochimaru quickly retreated, disappearing into the darkness of the forest treetops. He needed to be patient and wait for another chance when it came.  
After Ranma was satisfied that Orochimaru was no longer a threat, he turned his attention toward Shizune.  
"Ranma," Shizune was genuinely surprised.  
She then noticed Ton-Ton's still form, sans a limb, in his arms. She gently placed Sasuke down on the ground.  
"What the Hell happened to Ton-Ton?" she gasped.  
"I messed up," Ranma said, angry with himself, "I messed up big time and this was the result,"  
"You're also injured," Shizune gasped at the gaping wound in his shoulder as well as his shattered hand.  
"I'm fine," Ranma said, "Please, help Ton-Ton out,"  
Ranma gently placed Ton-Ton down on the ground and handed the severed limb to Shizune.  
"Please tell me you can do something to help Ton-Ton," Ranma basically begged.  
"I'll see what I can do," Shizune checked Ton-Ton's wound and the severed appendage for a moment before she sighed in relief, "I can save the limb,"  
Ranma watched as Shizune proceeded to attach the limb, holding her hand over the wound as she pressed the limb up against it. He watched in awe as he saw the muscles fibers and arteries started reconnecting between the limb and the body. Before long, the wound around the leg could be seen healing.  
Shizune wiped sweat from her brow when she was satisfied with what she had done, "Okay, I've done a quick touch-up job. I've attached the muscles and arteries so blood will be supplied to it to keep the limb alive. However, I need to get Ton-Ton to a hospital soon to attach the nerve endings,"  
Ranma looked around, "A hospital? We're out in the middle of nowhere!"  
He suddenly felt this massive aura of malevolence emanating from a short distance in the direction Orochimaru had gone. This made Ranma momentarily turn his attention from Shizune as she went about explaining that there was a hospital in a village located about a half-day's walk from where they were. In a hurry, they could get Ton-Ton there within around a half an hour. She also didn't hear her mention that she should really tend to his injuries as well, that he was bleeding profusely and would soon go into shock if he didn't let her treat him.  
"Something's coming," Ranma said matter-of-factly, picking up Sasuke, "Pick up Ton-Ton, we need to get outta here,"  
He felt the ground vibrating, as if something was rolling over it, or better yet, sliding over it. Shizune did as she was told, not at all liking the seriousness of how Ranma said that. She picked up Ton-Ton, grateful that the pig was unconscious for its limb was still sore from the quick surgery and any sudden movement would generate quite a bit of pain for the poor pig.  
Because it was dark out, Ranma wasn't able to see what was coming but was able to sense it as well as feel the vibrations on the ground of it.  
"Something big's coming," Ranma said, proceeding to run away while carrying Sasuke, ignoring the pains shooting up and down his body from the gaping wound in his shoulder as well as his broken ribs. Shizune could be seen following closely behind. It surprised her that she was able to keep up with him for it looked like he was running at about as fast as his body would let him.  
Ranma's a lot more hurt than he's letting on, Shizune thought.  
They came across a clearing with a giant crater in the ground. Ranma jumped across it, Shizune following suit. She noticed as Ranma paused for a moment when he landed on the other side, needing a moment to catch his breath and force back the haziness of his vision from the pain he was feeling before continuing on.  
"Good, he took my advice," Ranma said, breathing heavily.  
"Ranma, did you happen to pass Lee around here?" Shizune asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma answered, "I saw him a minute or so ago. I told him to get the Hell away from here, that it's way to dangerous for him to hang around,"  
"Why?" Shizune said, "We need all the help we can get. Lee may be young but he's a very skilled fighter,"  
Ranma said, "Because the Akatsuki leader is still around. It turns out she's a lot more dangerous than I thought and extremely unstable. Look at what she did to Ton-Ton. She attacked a goddamn pig. A pig. I worried that if she bumps into any of us guys, you're as good as dead. I'm pretty sure can deal with her and Orochimaru and that old man but only if I'm by myself,"  
"Why do you say that?" Shizune said, "You're injured and in need of our help,"  
"I can commit suicide," Ranma said matter-of-factly.  
"What?" Shizune was shocked at what she just heard, "Commit suicide? Why?"  
"I have an ultimate technique, my Seppukku Mouko Takabisha," Ranma stated, "It can basically take out everything and everyone within a one-mile radius of ground zero. I'll die in the process, but so with everyone else caught within it. If you guys aren't around, I don't hafta worry about using it and you guys getting caught in it along with the remaining Akatsuki members and Orochimaru,"  
Shizune said nothing for a moment, "That's crazy. There's better way that sacrificing yourself. It's best we just run away and regroup,"  
"I'm not running away," Ranma said, "Itachi died. I'm gonna see this through to the end, as a favor to him. I'm not gonna let his death be in vain," Ranma secretly swore that he would see it to the end the moment he saw Itachi's lifeless body. It was very much like how he would want Ryoga to take over for him should he die just short of attaining his goal of destroying Genom corporation many years ago.  
"I have no intention of dying. If it comes down to it, it's gonna be my ultimate and last resort," Ranma said seriously, "There are people back on my world waiting for me and I want to go back to them. However, if there is no other choice, I have no qualms about using my Seppukku Mouko Takabisha to end this fiasco. All this crap that's happened since I got to the temple has gone on for far too long,"  
Ranma glanced behind him, sensing the malevolent aura quickly gaining upon him and Shizune. He glanced upwards and behind the treetops where he caught a silhouette of something that very much confirmed his fears.  
"What's the name of that giant snake Orochimaru can summon?" Ranma asked curiously.  
"It's named Manda, why?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma, with his good harm in use carrying Sasuke, motioned his head toward the direction behind them.  
"Manda is behind us..."  
Naruto stirred slightly.  
"Naruto," he could have sworn he heard Shikamaru's voice, "Shhhh,"  
"Ugh," Naruto slowly opened his eyes, his head hurting like Hell. His body ached in all places and felt reluctant to move his gaze in the direction of the voice out of fear that even his eyeballs would hurt.  
"You're awake," Shikamaru seemed relieved, his voice very soft.  
Naruto groaned as he sat upright, "Where am I? What happened?"  
"In a cave," Shikamaru said, reaching out and placing a hand over Naruto's mouth, "Keep your voice down or you'll wake the bear,"  
"Bear?" Naruto asked through a muffled mouth.  
He glanced behind him where he saw a bear sleeping soundly a short distance away from the two of them. The first instinct was to scream in surprise but Shikamaru close his hand over Naruto's mouth, gripping it tightly to prevent him from doing so.  
"There are many caves around here," Shikamaru stated, "But I choose this one specifically because there was a bear in it sleeping. If you keep quiet, it won't wake up. Keep your voice down,"  
When Shikamaru removed Naruto softly asked, "Why are we in a cave with a bear?"  
Shikamaru sighed as he slumped against the wall, "Because a lot has happened. The Akatsuki Organization is still after you and with you having been knocked unconscious by God knows what, you were a sitting duck so I took it upon myself to hide you. We are in a cave with a bear because the bear's presence might throw off the Akatsuki for a short while if they decide to scan this area for you,"  
Shikamaru knew it was a long shot but it was better than nothing.  
Naruto rubbed his sore shoulders, "Can you tell me what happened?"  
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Shikamaru said, "When we found you, you were unconscious in the middle of a field,"  
Naruto's eyes widened, "I must've gotten knocked out protecting Sasuke. Sasuke! Where is he? What happened to him?"  
"Shhhh!" Shikamaru said in annoyance.  
The two boys glanced toward the bear where it stirred slightly but didn't wake up. They breathed in relief. Shikamaru made sure he glanced at Naruto harshly, letting his eyes do the talking and telling Naruto to keep quiet.  
"Things have turned out badly," Shikamaru said with a sigh.  
Shikamaru gave a quick briefing of what had happened since they stumbled upon Naruto and Sasuke and Itachi, explaining how Ranma went off on his own to fight Himitsu and the blond woman while they had remained behind to fight this old man. He then talked about how Orochimaru showed up and Lee and Shizune went after them while he and Neji had to stay and fight the old man.  
"That's why you're here now," Shikamaru finished his explanation, "Rather than Neji and I trying to fight that old man, Neji stayed back to hold him off while I hid you,"  
Naruto said nothing for a moment. He was still shocked at what he heard at the beginning of the briefing.  
"Are you sure he's dead?" Naruto asked, feeling this great sense of sadness. It seemed almost surreal, that someone like Itachi could be taken out. To him, it felt as much a slap in the face as suddenly hearing that Ranma had been killed in battle.  
Shikamaru nodded, "Yes. Shizune didn't even try to revive him because she knew he was gone and there was nothing she could do,"  
"Why didn't she at least try?" Naruto asked, as if angry at Shizune.  
"She's a medical ninja," Shikamaru said at how near-sighted Naruto was, "She knows the medical field better than we do. If she couldn't do anything, there was nothing that can be done,"  
Naruto said nothing, feeling tears starting to well around his eyes.  
"Damn, all that, only to die," Naruto said sadly, "Why did it hafta come to that?"  
"I heard about who his is and what he's done from Ranma," Shikamaru said, "I feel sad that he had gone through so much and ended up getting killed but it seemed like he was at peace when he died. I think he was happy dying for his cause,"  
"Still," Naruto wiped at his eyes, pretending he had some dirty in it, "It would have been best if he had survived so he and Sasuke could be together as brothers again,"  
"Well, not all things turn out the way people want it to," Shikamaru stated logically. It seemed like Naruto had grown up quite a bit since Ranma had showed up on this world.  
Naruto slowly got back up to his feet and inspected himself. There was dirt on his clothes as well as dried up blood from various wounds of his that Shizune had healed. "I think I'm ready to join the fight," Naruto said, dusting his clothes, "I ache all over but it's nothing that bad,"  
Shikamaru said, "No. You're staying right here. The Akatsuki are after you. If you go out there, you're putting your life in danger,"  
"So is Neji and Ranma and Shizune and Lee," Naruto retorted, about to head for the cave exit, "I'm not going to let them go through this on their own. They need my help,"  
Shikamaru reached out and grabbed Naruto's shoulder, "No. What you need to do is to stay here. They're better off fighting their battles without having to worry about protecting you,"  
"Don't underestimate me," Naruto reached up and gripped Shikamaru's hand, squeezing it tightly which caused the young boy to yelp in surprise at how physically strong Naruto was. He only gripped Shikamaru's hand slightly just to get his point across.  
Jeez, what kind of training did Naruto undergo, Shikamaru looked down at his hand. It throbbed slightly with pain but he knew it would eventually go away.  
"I don t care what you say," Naruto said, "I'm going to go help,"  
A roar could be heard from behind them. Both boys turned around. They realized that the bear had been awoken from its slumber and was now very angry at the two intruders that it saw in its burrow.  
Both boys ran out of the cave as the bear roared again.  
Shikamaru sighed as the two boys leaped out of the cave and started running through the forest, "Well, I guess your wanting to go out to help is the only option now since it seems like remaining in the cave is now outta the question,"  
After running a short distance away from the cave and sure that the bear had gave up chasing the two of them, Naruto and Shikamaru jumped up toward the treetops to check out their surroundings, hoping they might be able to see some kind of sign of an ongoing battle so they could go help.  
Standing on the very top of tree, basically defying gravity for the tip of the tree should not be able to support his weight, Naruto scanned the horizon for signs of battle.  
"Jeez, just how far did you run away to hide me from the Akatsuki?" Naruto asked, noticing Banishment Temple almost a good mile away, separated from them by dense forest, many clearings seen about from his vantage point. He had a very good vantage point because the tree he was standing on top of was far up the slope of a mountain, Shikamaru having headed straight for the mountain range located south of the temple knowing that it would be a good place to hide Naruto at the time.  
Shikamaru could be seen standing on a tree top just like Naruto. This impressed Naruto because he always thought Shikamaru was a slacker and never bothered to train much.  
"What's that?" Shikamaru asked, noticing the shadowing silhouette of what looked like a serpent making its way through the forest. Even though the silhouette was small from such a distance, Shikamaru knew that that creature was huge, "It looks like some kinda serpent,"  
"That looks like Manda," Naruto said, hoping that he wasn't right, "It's a giant snake,"  
"Manda?" Shikamaru asked.  
"Orochimaru's summons," Naruto answered, "I saw it a while back while I was traveling with Ranma. This was back during the time when Ranma and I had gone out to find the Fifth Hokage,"  
"Looks like its attacking or chasing after something," Shikamaru commented, noticing the giant snake seemed to be biting at something in front of it as it continuously slithered forward.  
"It's chasing after Ranma and Shizune!" Naruto said.  
"What? How do you know?" Shikamaru asked, not believing Naruto's eyesight to be that good that he was capable of spotting two people from over a mile away in the dead of night where only the moonlight was the only source of light.  
Naruto said, "What, you can't see them?"  
"No, not really," Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, straining to see what Naruto was seeing, much to no avail. All he saw was slight flashes of red but had no idea what it was. Little did he know that he was actually seeing Ranma's shirt as he ran through the forest.  
"We better go help them," Naruto said, hopping off the tree.  
"Um, exactly how?" Shikamaru asked, scratching the back of his head, "In case you don't notice, there's this huge snake down there. If powerful enough that even Ranma's running away from it, exactly how are we gonna be able to do something against it?"  
Naruto found that rather odd, that Ranma would be running away. His ki-blasts were deadly and he would most likely have Manda thinking twice about chasing after him he struck the snake with a few ki-blasts to the face.  
"Ranma must be hurt," Naruto said.  
"Probably," Shikamaru said, "That guy's probably been through a lot. He's probably hurt from fighting the leader of the Akatsuki,"  
Shikamaru remember Ranma saying he was heading off to deal with Himitsu and the blond woman. While he had no just how strong Himitsu was, he assumed she would be plenty powerful even for Ranma since she must be powerful to be able to lead such a group of powerful individuals.  
"Ki-blast," Naruto said, "A ki-blast will get Manda's attention,"  
"What?" Shikamaru asked.  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto said as he performed the necessary hand seals.  
Suddenly, a good fifty Narutos appeared out of nowhere in a cloud of smoke.  
"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asked, genuinely impressed. He looked around and saw nothing but orange, he and Naruto surrounded by clones in a perfect circle, each and every one of them standing perfectly balanced on nearby treetops and branches.  
Jeez, Naruto had been knocked out for a while and is still able to summon a good fifty shadow clones, Shikamaru thought. Just how much stamina does he freaking have?  
"Everyone, I need energy," Naruto told his clones.  
"Okay," every clone said in unison.  
Shikamaru watched as every clone placed one hand on the shoulder of the clone to his right, the other hand cupped by their stomach. He noticed that every clone was touching each other's shoulder, seemingly in a meditative state, their breathing slow and steady.  
"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asked.  
As he stood within the circle, he felt this wave of ki washing over him, as if energy was passing right through him, his body neither losing ki nor absorbing it.  
"What the?" Shikamaru said in surprise as he saw ever clone starting to glow a faint glow of blue. He looked up where he could see an aura swirling down from the sky and toward the real Naruto as he stood in the middle.  
What the Hell's going on here, Shikamaru thought. What kind of technique is this? I've never seen or felt something like this before.  
This lasted for a good twenty seconds, the faint glow becoming more and more visible. Then, out of nowhere, the glow disappeared, spiraling down into the real Naruto.  
"I'm ready," he heard Naruto say.  
Shikamaru nearly fell off of the tree from shock when he saw a small glowing sphere of energy in his hands as he cupped it close to his body. There was a humming noise emanating from it much like some kind of electrical generator.  
He looked over and noticed another clones had a similar sphere of energy. He watched in stunned silence as the clone leapt forward from the circle to stand right by Naruto before placing his hand on Naruto, the sphere of energy decreasing in size as the energy seemed to escape it and travel up the clones body and across his arm and into Naruto through his shoulder.  
"What the?" Shikamaru gasped in absolute shock as he saw the sphere of energy in Naruto's hand grow to around four times its size, into roughly the size of the basketball, "What are you going to do?"  
All the clones disappeared, no longer needed.  
Naruto, still holding the massive sphere of energy in his hand, watched the snake making its way through the forest a mile away, aiming carefully.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto shouted after a second, extending his arms forward.  
The sphere of energy rocketed from his extended hands, flying through the air and straight toward the giant snake. The ki-blast glowed brilliantly, casting its light on the trees below.  
The ki-blast missed its mark striking the ground right near the giant snake. A massive explosion occurred as the ground and trees near the snake exploded from the impact. The giant snake, which had been intent on attacking its prey, reeled backwards in surprise from the blast but was left unscathed.  
"Oh man, I missed!" Naruto said, breathing heavily. He had put so much of his ki into that ki-blast, only to have missed.  
"What the Hell was that?" Shikamaru gasped. It was absolutely incredible, something he figured he would see only someone of Hokage-level skill capable of doing. His heart was racing with excitement from having witness such a magnificent event. "It's the Mouko Takabisha," Naruto grinned, "Pretty cool, huh?"  
That wasn't exactly how one did it, but his variation of it seemed to have similar effects. He had yet to understand how to draw in massive amounts of ki by himself that he needed clones to help him out. It would take too long if he tried to draw in the necessary ki for the ki-blast all on his own.  
"Oh oh, it seems like you got it angry," Shikamaru said nervously, pointing. Naruto looked where Shikamaru was pointing, the blood draining from his face as he caught sight of the giant snake making its way through the forest and straight toward him and Shikamaru.  
A look of fear came across Naruto's face. He didn't think ahead as to what to do after he got the creature's attention.  
"Oh my God!" Naruto gasped.  
There was no way he or Shikamaru could deal with something like that. He remembered seeing Tsunade fighting Orochimaru and the snake and having a bit of trouble when she had her own summoned creature out as well, a giant slug. Also, he was near the brink of exhaustion, having released most of his ki into the one and only ki-blast. "Gamabunta!" Naruto said, "That's what I need to do!"  
"Huh?" Shikamaru asked, feeling very nervous as he swathe snake getting bigger and bigger as it continued to make its way toward them.  
"This should work," Naruto said as he bit his finger, drawing blood.  
Shikamaru watched as Naruto hopped off the treetop and down to a branch below.  
"Summoning no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he pressed his hand down on the branch.  
A massive cloud of smoke appeared below them, extending upward and outward in all direction. Shikamaru yelped in surprise as he felt something within the smoke push him up into the sky from below. It felt like the ground below him had suddenly shot up and he found himself crouching to lower his center of gravity to keep his balance.  
When the smoke disappeared, Shikamaru looked down and found himself standing on the head of a giant red frog, Naruto standing nearby, a big grin on his face. It was massive in size, at least a hundred feet tall, so tall that the trees he had been standing on a second ago looked short by comparison.  
Naruto had successfully summoned Gamabunta.  
Ranma and Shizune had been running when they felt the ground shake violently near them. Ranma paused for a moment to look over his shoulder and saw a massive explosion occur right near the pursuing snake, causing it to reel up in surprise, momentarily distracted.  
"What was that?" Shizune asked as neither of them paused in their running.  
"Naruto," Ranma said, inwardly grateful and concerned, "That was his ki-blast. Thanks to him, we've got some breathing room,"  
It couldn't have come at a better time. Ranma had been about to turn around and truly risk his life by shooting off a few ki-blasts to keep the giant snake from attacking him but that would have left him in deep trouble because he would have used the last of his ki reserves doing so. If he ran out of ki, he would not be able to hold out against the injuries he currently had and would go into shock. Most of the ki he had left went into keeping him conscious and fighting off the pain that made him want to black out.  
"Naruto's awake? How can you tell?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma slowed down, eventually coming to a halt, "Because, he's the only one that can shoot those," Placing Sasuke gently on the ground, he pulled his shirt up to reveal his injuries to Shizune, "Can you take care of this? It hurts like Hell,"  
"Jeez, it punctured the skin," Shizune gasped as she placed the unconscious Ton-Ton down on the ground, shocked that Ranma was even conscious.  
"I know," Ranma said, wincing, "That's why it hurts like there's no tomorrow,"  
"Sit down and I'll tend to it," Shizune said.  
Ranma did as he was told as Shizune placed her hand by Ranma's punctured chest, her hand glowing in the process. He felt a warm sensation entering his body through her hand, coursing through every fiber of his being. As time progress, he found the pain of breathing dissipating, his breathing becoming easier as well.  
"Wow, your healing ability's great," Ranma said, "I should take you home with me,"  
"What?" Shizune blushed, misunderstanding Ranma's comment as if it were a sexual connotation. It sounded like Ranma was hitting on her, indicating that he wanted to have sexual relations with her.  
"Nevermind," Ranma said, "I was just talking to myself,"  
Shizune tried to ignore the comment, figuring perhaps Ranma was delirious from the pain he was most likely feeling and not really knowing exactly what he was saying in the first place. "Almost done," Shizune said, pausing a moment to catch her breath after she had managed to fix the broken ribs. She had yet to close the wound the broken ribs had created. While she knew she needed to close it up quickly, she knew she couldn't be rushed. She needed a minute to recover some energy before moving on to closing the wound and then moving onto the gaping hole in Ranma's shoulder as well as his shattered hand.  
"Jeez, you're a mess," Shizune commented, wondering how Ranma was able to cope with such injuries and continue on moving, let alone fighting. Itachi had suffered similar injuries and had easily fallen unconscious from it. Ranma continued to be active and put massive stress on his body despite such injuries.  
"You okay?" Ranma asked, noticing that Shizune looked to be on the brink of exhaustion. He believed she must had expended a lot of energy dealing with Orochimaru before Ranma showed up to help her. He knew she could sure use another boost of energy like the one he had given her earlier. However, he knew if he did do that, he would need to rest again like before. He definitely didn't have time to do so.  
Just as Shizune was about to go about closing the wound left behind from the broken ribs she had just fixed, a dagger flew out of nowhere and straight toward her from behind.  
"Lookout!" Ranma shouted, reaching out and shoving Shizune out of the projectile's way.  
The dagger missed the back of Shizune's neck by inches but struck Ranma right in the forearm of his one good arm.  
"What was that for?" Shizune hadn't been aware she had been attacked from behind. She found herself looking at Ranma as Ranma held his arm in front of him, a dagger sticking right through it.  
"Aw damn!" Ranma said. He knew he was very sluggish because he should have been able to avoid the projectile in time, "This is definitely not my day,"  
He used his teeth to pull the dagger out of his forearm, wincing in pain as he did so. "It seems like all those injuries are finally taking its toll on you," came Orochimaru's voice.  
Ranma and Shizune turned in the direction where the voice had come from and saw Orochimaru casually emerging from a nearby bush, smiling disdainfully at the two of them.  
Orochimaru had been conjured the giant snake to even the playing field ever since Ranma's arrival. Even though he had one arm and couldn't make the necessary hand seals to do so, he had the necessary wards that could be used to substitute as hand seals. It was unfortunate that he only had the right amount for one summoning. To create such wards took a lot of time and was inefficient. Afterall, it took upwards of a week to create a certain ward that could be used as a substitute to a hand seal that only took a split second to make.  
Orochimaru had been standing on the giant snake's head the whole time but ended up falling off when the snake reeled up in surprise from Naruto's ki-blast exploding nearby. Before Orochimaru realized it, the giant snake had abandoned the task it was given to chase and attack Ranma and Shizune to go after whoever had shot that ki-blast in the first place.  
Then again, even if he gave the command to tell the snake to continue chasing after Ranma and Shizune, he doubted it would work. It was hard keeping a reign on giant creatures like Manda and Gamabunta, them having a tendency of going off and things on their own if they felt like it.  
Realizing that he no longer had the giant snake helping him, Orochimaru stealthily observed Ranma and Shizune and realized that Ranma was badly injured, so much so that Orochimaru might have the advantage against him if he took out Shizune first. If she managed to heal Ranma of his injuries, then the advantage would be gone.  
"Congratulations, you managed to hurt me," Ranma said, getting up to his feet, smirking, "Why don't you give yourself a clap in congratulation? Oh wait, you're missing an arm,"  
Orochimaru didn't seem fazed at the jibe. He simply smiled, "I find it rather amusing that you would joke at a time like now, especially when that dagger has been laced with poison. It should start having its effect right around now,"  
Ranma felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, finding it hard to stand. He wobbled slightly on his feet before falling back down to the ground.  
"Ugh," Ranma said weakly, finding it hard to see straight.  
"Orochimaru," Shizune said, pulling out a dagger, about to charge Orochimaru but was stopped when a dagger went sailing right by her, landing right by Ranma's leg as he sat on the ground disoriented.  
"And just how do you expect to take me on and protect Ranma at the same time?" Orochimaru grinned at Shizune.  
Ranma groggily extended a hand toward Orochimaru. "G-go away," Ranma slurred like drunk. As a matter of fact, he looked very much like he was drunk, all his senses dulled from the poison running through his body, "G-go away if y'know what's good fer ya,"  
Orochimaru smirked, finding Ranma's words amusing. Without warning, a ki-blast shot from Ranma's extended hand, catching Orochimaru completely off-guard, hitting him in the chest, sending him flying bodily backwards where he crashed through several trees, disappearing into the darkness of the woods.  
Still disoriented, Ranma chuckled, finding it rather hilarious that he managed to get the drop on someone like Orochimaru. He then promptly fell backwards and onto his back unconscious.  
A short distance away, Orochimaru coughed up some blood as he weakly got to his feet. He found himself needing to lean against a tree for some support. His body felt like it was on fire. Little did Orochimaru realize that he had been struck by a very weak version of the ki-blasts liked to shoot. Because Ranma had been in a weakened state and suffering from being poisoned as well as near the brink of exhaustion, his ki-blast was nowhere near as powerful as it could have been.  
"Ugh, strong," Orochimaru said weakly, taking a moment to catch his breath. He truly believed he had the advantage, that Ranma was far too injured to do anything. It was most unfortunate that Ranma was much like a dying shark, capable of massive damage with a final burst of energy.  
Sensing danger, Orochimaru looked toward the side just in the nick of time to see and dodge a shuriken as hit narrowly missed his head, sailing right past him and becoming imbedded in his head.  
"Your life ends tonight," Shizune said with a sneer.  
Shizune wanted to tend to Ranma's wounds but knew she needed to kill Orochimaru. She had hoped to find him unconscious where killing him would be quick and easy but was disappointed when she found him very much alive.  
Orochimaru looked over at Shizune, assessing the situation. He knew that she was very fatigued and in desperate need of some rest. However, she seemed to be in far better condition than he was because he was actually injured, most likely suffering from countless internal injuries. It also didn't help that he was missing one arm and had Kabuto's leg which he was unused to controlling.  
Realizing that Shizune was fighting against time, she went straight into the offensive, slashing and stabbing at Orochimaru, every attack aimed straight at vital organs.  
"Che," Orochimaru realized he was having a lot of trouble dodging her attacks.  
Needing a weapon of his own, he quickly brought one right out from his mouth, taking a hold of it with his good arm. Shizune narrowed her eyes at Orochimaru, glancing down at her dagger. Things had suddenly gotten a bit more complicated now that Orochimaru had a sword and significantly more range than she did. Her dagger only made her deadly within close range. Orochimaru's sword made him deadly from close to medium range and could be used to keep her from getting in close to him.  
As she regarded him for a moment, planning her course of action in dealing with a sword-wielding Orochimaru, a shadow came rocketing from some nearby bushes and straight toward Orochimaru.  
Orochimaru brought the flat portion of his sword up to block the shadow but was sent staggering backwards from the force of impact the shadow generated.  
Shizune glanced at the shadow that was now standing between her and Orochimaru.  
"Lee," Shizune said, surprised to see him. "I'll take care of him, Shizune-sama," Lee said confidently, not one bit bothered that his opponent had a sword, "I saw Ranma nearby. He looks like he needs help badly,"  
Shizune nodded, "Yes, he needs my help, but I doubt I'll be able to do anything while Orochimaru's around,"  
Orochimaru simply smirked. He had no intention whatsoever of allowing her a chance of healing some of Ranma's injuries. "We'll take him down together," Shizune stated, "He may be missing one arm but he's still very dangerous,"  
Lee said, "Shizune-sama, I'm sure I can handle him,"  
He wanted to be useful. He was purely a close combat Taijitsu specialist and fighting against someone like Orochimaru, even though he was sporting a sword, was something Lee felt comfortable fighting against.  
Shizune regarded Lee for a moment, sensing his battle aura. The young boy seemed to be itching to prove himself in battle and it seemed like he felt this was his opportunity.  
"I'm not going to hold back," Lee said, taking in a deep breath, proceeding to unravel the bandages around his forearms.  
She felt a strong wave of battle aura emanating from the young boy. He noticed a blue aura surrounding him. She smiled inwardly before heading off, knowing full well that Lee would be able to take care of himself, sensing a great power to the young boy she didn't notice until now.  
It seems like she didn't need to worry one bit about Lee.  
Orochimaru was the one that needed to be worried.  
As she headed off, Lee's voice could be heard as he prepared for battle.  
"First, Second, Third Heavenly Gates, Open!"

Shizune found Ranma right where she had left him and Sasuke and Ton-Ton.  
She quickly checked their pulse to make sure they were okay. Surprisingly, Ranma's pulse was the most steady out of all three of them, something she found very peculiar since she was expecting it to be extremely erratic.  
She placed a palm over Ranma's chest, closing her eyes for a moment. She then sighed in relief as she sensed what kind of poison ailed Ranma. It was a strong but curable poison, one which she had the antidote on her person.  
She produces a small vial of liquid. Gently tilting Ranma's head, she had him drink it, pressing a part of his throat to make him involuntarily swallow. The antidote'll take effect in a couple of minutes, she thought to herself. She glanced at the nasty hole in his shoulder as well as his shattered hand.  
Seeing how damaged Ranma's hand made her realize that there was no way she could heal Ranma's hand with her level of knowledge of the healing arts. Ranma needed someone like Tsunade to tend to an injury like that.  
Placing her hand over Ranma's wound she took a deep breath and proceeded to channel her ki from her hand and into the wound. She found her vision slowly blurring.  
I'm exhausted, she thought as she paused a moment to catch her breath. Being a medical ninja was extremely taxing. Most people had no idea the amount of ki expended just to heal a simple laceration, let alone setting and fixing a bone or attaching nerve endings and arteries and such.  
While she hated to admit it, she was glad she didn t waste excess energy healing everyone. Had she bothered to heal every scratch that Neji and Lee had before instead of just the few major ones, she would be completely out of energy now.  
When she brought her hand away from Ranma's shoulder, she realized she was unable to fully heal the wound, that it was still wide open and need of suturing.  
She reached into her outfit and pulled out a small needle and some strong thread.  
"Thank goodness I paid attention during medical class," Shizune said to herself as she proceeded to suture Ranma's wound, finding herself feeling a bit queasy at seeing the needle piercing the skin countless times. She was unused to damaging a patient, even if it was something miniscule like the piercing of a needle for suturing, to closing a wound.  
While she disliked suturing a wound over closing using ki, she knew it was effective. After she finished stitching up the wound, she turned her attention toward the wound in his forearm that had been inflicted upon him as a result of shoving Shizune out of the way when Orochimaru threw a dagger toward her from behind.  
Just as she was finishing suturing up the wound on his forearm, Ranma slowly opened his eyes, the antidote having taken effect.  
"Ugh," Ranma groaned.  
"Ranma," she said, feeling very grateful that he was now awake.  
Ranma rubbed the shoulder Shizune had just sutured. He noticed that he didn't feel pain shooting up and down his arm and body and was pleasantly surprised when he saw that it had been closed up and quite nicely for that matter.  
"Nice," Ranma said, "I don't think I could've sutured my wounds any better myself,"  
"You can suture your own wounds?" Shizune was surprised to hear this.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. However, since I don't carry some suturing needle and thread..."  
Ranma didn't need to bother finishing the sentence as Shizune smiled. He slowly got up to his feet, feeling slightly disoriented, staggering slightly where Shizune rushed forward to catch him before he fell.  
"Careful," she said, "The antidote is working its way through your system neutralizing the poison but there might still be a little bit left affecting you,"  
From out of nowhere, a body came crashing through a nearby tree, bouncing off the ground right by where Ranma and Shizune was before slamming against a tree and falling down to the ground. Ranma and Shizune glanced over and saw that it was Orochimaru. He looked badly hurt and could be seen slowly getting back up to his feet. When he caught sight of Ranma conscious, he looked very concerned.  
"Hi, Orochimaru, remember me?" Ranma grinned, not even bothering to wonder how he got there in the first place.  
Ranma extended a hand toward Orochimaru and shot a ki-blast right at him, barely missing him as he ducked it, the ki-blast exploding and vaporizing the tree behind him, the explosion sending him flying forward where he tumbled on the ground right in front of them.  
Orochimaru could be seen slowly getting up to his feet, completely disoriented from the blast. He looked like a shell of his former self, badly beaten and near the brink of unconsciousness.  
"Man, this is gonna feel good," Ranma said as he brought one leg back and kicked Orochimaru right in the side, sending him flying through a few trees where he bounced off one and fell to the ground unconscious.  
"Jeez," Shizune was shocked at how vicious Ranma could be. It was as if once he decided he was going to hurt someone, he didn't hold back, Orochimaru learning that the hard way.  
From out of the bushes emerged Lee, an evident aura glowing around him. When he saw Ranma, the fight seemed to leave him as if he suddenly realized he had gotten caught by an adult he didn't want to anger, especially since he defied his order to run away.  
"Lee! What are you doing here?" Ranma shouted in surprise, "Didn't I tell you to get away from here?"  
"Um, er," Lee said innocently.  
"Lee was here saving your life," Shizune quickly jumped to the boy's defense.  
"Oh?" Ranma perked an eyebrow.  
Lee looked at Shizune, glad that she was there to defend him.  
"I was able to tend to you and your injuries because Lee was fighting Orochimaru and buying me the necessary time I needed to do so," Shizune said, gesturing toward Lee, "If anything, you should be glad that Lee hung around to help out,"  
Ranma seemed at a loss of words, "Lee, you really did that? You took on Orochimaru on my behalf?"  
Lee gave a shy nod, not really knowing how Ranma would react to it. He was still worried of Ranma being angry at him for disobeying.  
Ranma smiled warmly, "Good job. Thanks for your help. I was wrong and am glad that you hung around instead of followed my instructions. I'm sorry I didn't believe in you or your ability to take care of yourself,"  
Lee seemed rather surprised at Ranma's humility. Ranma was glad things turned out okay but didn't bother to mention that it could have easily turned for the worse. Lee had taken a gamble in deliberately disobeying and it worked in their favor.  
Ranma sighed in relief, "Okay, it seems like I'm much better now. I'm nowhere near one hundred percent, but it'll do,"  
"I'll be right back," Shizune walked off.  
"Where're you going?" Ranma asked.  
"I'm going to go take care of Orochimaru," Shizune grinned, producing a dagger from her clothes.  
"I suggest you leave him," Ranma said, "He's out cold. We won't need to worry about him for a while,"  
"I don't intend to worry about him ever again after tonight," Shizune said, "No one is going to ever worry about him after tonight,"  
"What, you're gonna kill him?" Ranma asked, making no attempts to go after her to stop her.  
Shizune simply grinned.  
"Yes, I am,"

new stuff 5/7

Shikamaru found himself struggling to stay afoot on top of Gamabunta's head as the giant frog and the giant snake, Manda, attacked each other viciously. Naruto didn't seem to have quite as much trouble staying afoot, throwing his daggers toward Manda, his projectiles bouncing right off the giant snake's thick skin.  
Shikamaru wondered what he could do as he and Naruto continued to stand on top of Gamabunta's head as the battle raged on. He noticed that Manda seemed to be a lot more powerful, Gamabunta finding himself on the defensive and constantly using this dagger to keep Manda a safe distance away.  
"This is bothersome!" Gamabunta said in a booming voice toward Naruto, "Why have you brought me out at a time like now?"  
"We needed your help, Gamabunta!" Naruto shouted out in reply.  
Gamabunta was at a serious disadvantage fighting Manda. Unlike Manda, Gamabunta's vision at night was severely lacking. Manda didn't suffer such a handicap since he detected heat and didn't need to see his opponent well to be able to fight him. While the giant frog was cold blooded and detecting a cold blooded creature was much harder than that of a warm blooded creature, Manda's ability to sense heat made seeing Gamabunta as clear as day.  
The fact that it was late at night and the only light Gamabunta had emanated from the moon high above left the giant frog at a disadvantage.  
Gamabunta will eventually lose if this keeps up, Shikamaru thought as he observed the battle. He seems to have trouble seeing that giant snake's attack. I think it's because it's nighttime and there isn't much light for him to see his opponent that is giving him trouble.  
By now, Shikamaru found himself getting used to balancing on top of Gamabunta's head. Naruto had gotten completely used to it. Realizing that Gamabunta would eventually fall to the vicious onslaught of Manda's attacks, Shikamaru came up with an idea. "Naruto, do you still have enough energy to use another one of your Mouko Takabisha blasts against the giant snake?" Shikamaru told Naruto, recalling the name Naruto had called the ki-blast.  
"I think so. Why do you want me to do that?" Naruto asked, believing Gamabunta was doing fine against Manda.  
"Just do it!" Shikamaru shouted.  
"Okay, if you say so," Naruto said, performing several hand seals, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"  
Around twenty clones suddenly appeared through a cloud of smoke, surrounding Naruto as he stood in the middle.  
Man, Naruto has such incredible stamina, Shikamaru thought as proceeded to reach into one of the pockets of his ninja vest and pulled out an explosive ward and a shuriken. He then proceeded to wrap the explosive ward around the handle of the shuriken. He could be seen counting silently to himself.  
As Gamabunta and Manda continued to fight, the twenty clones could be seen meditating, drawing in ki from their surroundings. "Seven...Six...Five...Four..." Shikamaru counted to himself before sending a small bit of his energy into the explosive ward wrapped around the shuriken. The explosive ward suddenly started fizzling like that of a fuse of a firecracker.  
"Three...Two..." Shikamaru tossed the shuriken straight up into the air just as one of the clone Naruto stepped forward and placed his hand on the real Naruto and proceeding to pass over the collected energy into his body.  
"One..." Shikamaru brought his hands up to shield his eyes from the brilliant blast that was about to explode.  
The explosive ward exploded high above Gamabunta's head, momentarily distracting Manda, causing the giant snake to pause for a split second to look up in curiosity at where the explosion had come from.  
"Zero..." Shikamaru grinned.  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto extended his arms forward, releasing a giant ki-  
blast straight toward the giant snake's elongated body.  
The ki-blast rocketed from Naruto's extended hand with lightning speed, angling downward from the top of Gamabunta's head, singeing it slightly in the process, hitting Manda right in the center of his body.  
A massive explosion ensued, enveloping a majority of Manda's body, sending the giant creature writhing high up into the air in pain and surprise as massive surge of pain surged through his body.  
Gamabunta saw the opening and lunged forward, stabbing upward with his dagger, piercing right through the underside of Manda's jaw where the blade emerge through the top of his jaw.  
When the smoke for the ki-blast explosion clear, Gamabunta was standing right next to Manda, his dagger pointing straight up, Manda skewered by it through his jaw.  
Blood poured from the underside of Manda's jaw, showering both boys and Gamabunta with his blood. Both boys seemed to become nauseas at the sight of so much blood while Gamabunta had nothing but a massive grin on his face from realizing that he was the one that caused it.  
"You win for now!" Manda sneered in a cold voice, "As soon as my jaw heals, I'm going to use it to swallow you whole, Gamabunta!"  
Without saying another word, Manda disappeared in a massive cloud of smoke, leaving behind only Gamabunta, Naruto, and Shikamaru.  
"Wow, that was awesome!" Naruto shouted, "We won!"  
Naruto proceeded to do a little dance of victory on the top of Gamabunta's head but stopped when he slipped on the blood covering it and fell off, falling all the way down to the ground far below. He crashed to the ground in a loud thud but wasn't hurt that badly, most of the branches of the trees he hit on the way down having slowed his fall.  
"Ow!" Naruto said, feeling completely mortified, as he lay on his back, looking straight up toward the underbelly of Gamabunta.  
Gamabunta said in a booming voice, "That was an impressive teamwork you two children displayed back there. I must say that if it weren't for what you two did, I would not have managed to do so well against Manda. What kind of projectile was that? I have never seen something like that before,"  
Naruto hopped to his feet, smiling proudly, "It's my Mouko Takabisha blast!"  
"I see," Gamabunta said, "I assume Ranma taught you such a technique. Afterall, I doubt an idiot like you could come up with such a technique all by yourself,"  
"What?" Naruto shouted, "I'll have you know that..."  
Naruto said nothing as he suddenly realized that he only knew that technique because Ranma had taught him it. Deep down inside, he was pretty positive he would never have come up with such a technique by himself.  
Shikamaru yelped in surprise as Gamabunta stuck his tongue out and wrapped it around his body. He then found himself being picked up and placed on the ground right by where Naruto was.  
"Who are you?" Gamabunta asked Shikamaru.  
"Um, my name is Shikamaru Nara," Shikamaru said in a rather meek voice. Now that he was able to see Gamabunta from the ground and actually see how huge a creature he was, Shikamaru found himself awed and nervous at what he saw before him.  
"Shikamaru, huh?" Gamabunta said, "I'll remember that name. You've displayed an excellent use of timing and strategy back there. You have my gratitude,"  
"Um, y-you're welcome," Shikamaru said. "Hey, what about me?" Naruto wanted in on the action.  
"What about you?" Gamabunta shouted at Naruto, the gust of wind from his booming voice sending Naruto flying through the air where he crashed against a nearby tree but was unhurt, "You expect me to say my thanks when you summoned me from out of nowhere and don't give me any warning that I was going to be fighting my nemesis, Manda?"  
"Um, nevermind," Naruto said in a meek voice, "Um, we're glad you helped us out,"  
"Hmph!" Gamabunta said, "Now that I'm done, it's best I be off now,"  
Without saying another word, Gamabunta disappeared in a massive puff of smoke. When the smoke disappeared, the only sign left behind that he was even there in the first place was from all the hundreds of toppled tress that had been crushed under Gamabunta's massive weight.  
A few minutes passed in silence as both boys allowed themselves to calm down from all the excitement that had just occurred over the past few minutes.  
"Man, we did great!" Naruto said happily, "Did you see the size of that blast I shot? It was huge!"  
"Man, I really wish I stayed home," Shikamaru commented, scratching his head, "I'm really not cut out for this,"  
"What are you talking about?" Naruto was surprised at the comment, "You did great. With your brains and my power, we're unstoppable,"  
Shikamaru sighed, "Look, what's done is done,"  
He glanced over where he saw Naruto heading off.  
"Hey, where're you going?" Shikamaru called out, quickly chasing after him.  
Naruto didn't bother to look back.  
"Where else? To find Ranma and the others,"

Ranma, Shizune, and Lee raced through the forest.  
Ranma was carrying Sasuke while Shizune carried Ton-Ton. Lee followed closely behind. He cast glances toward Ranma's shattered hand and wondered how Ranma was able to block out the pain he must currently be feeling.  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times.  
"Ton-Ton's detected Neji's scent," Ranma stated, "He's around five hundred feet straight ahead of us. He's wounded,"  
"We better hurry then," Lee stated.  
He cast Shizune a glance, wondering exactly what she had done with Orochimaru. She was covered in blood, Orochimaru's blood. Shizune had disappeared for a short while to take care of Orochimaru, returning a few minutes later covered in blood, a grin on her face. "What do you think she did to Orochimaru back there?" Lee asked Ranma softly. He had no real idea what to do when he had seen Shizune walk off to kill Orochimaru. While he didn't believe in knowing that someone was going to kill someone and not doing anything about it, the fact that Ranma made no attempt to stop her made Lee figure it was not his place to do anything as well.  
"I don't really care," Ranma shrugged. He deeply didn't condone the murder of anyone, but he knew the ends justified the means. Orochimaru was a menace to the Hidden Leaf Village as well as countless lives that his death meant the lives of many would be saved.  
He didn t bother to mention that the blood covering Shizune wasn't that of the blood that would spray on her if she sliced Orochimaru's neck wide open or stabbed him in the heart. Whatever it was, Ranma was pretty sure Orochimaru met a gruesome fate. As they ran, Ranma suddenly came to a sliding halt. Because Lee and Shizune were right behind him, the stopped as well, almost crashing into his back.  
"What's the matter?" Shizune asked.  
"Shit," Ranma muttered, "She's already awake and here,"  
"Who?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma quickly handed Sasuke to Lee, "Lee, Shizune, get the heck outta here. Things are gonna get nasty in a second. Shizune, I'm depending on you and Neji to finish off the old man,"  
"What about me?" Lee felt left out.  
"You're in charge of the more important task, of seeing to Sasuke's and Ton-  
Ton's safety," Ranma said. He knew Lee would be useless against the old man since it seemed like the old man could only be hurt by ki-based attacks. While Neji specialized ki-based attacks, he alone would not be able to take down an Akatsuki member. Shizune, while she specialized mostly in the medical arts, was no slouch and also knew ki-based attacks.  
She and Neji should be more than enough to handle the old man. Besides, Ranma had seriously hurt the old man with that initial ki-blast that it shouldn't be that hard for Neji and Shizune to finish him off.  
"What about you?" Shizune asked.  
"Go!" Ranma shouted toward them, "You need to get away from here!"  
Shizune and Lee looked at one another. They then nodded and quickly ran off, disappearing into the darkness.  
Ranma took a deep breath, as if readying himself for the inevitable rematch against Himitsu, a pissed off Himitsu at that. It seemed like she had somehow detected him and was heading straight toward him.  
Ranma found himself feeling somewhat excited about the battle that would soon occur. Himitsu was definitely a worthy opponent. Something like having her arm ripped right off would most likely not slow her down. It would probably just make her angry. Even with one arm, she would still be extremely powerful. A minute passed in total silence.  
From out of the darkness emerged Himitsu. A second later emerged several more identical Himitsu clones. Before long, Ranma found himself looking at five identical Himitsu, all of them looking perfectly fine none of them missing an arm. This seemed odd because if an original created a clone, the clone would possess the exact same outward appearance as the original. If that was the case, that means Himitsu possessed the ability to attach her own limbs back to her body.  
Ranma scanned all five of them and realized that he had no idea which one was the real Himitsu and which four were the clones. They all looked exactly alike and possessed the exact same aura of power as the original Himitsu, which ever one it was.  
All five of them glared at Ranma with killing intent, their faces twisted into utter animosity toward Ranma.  
Ranma gulped as he realized he was in trouble.  
"Oh oh,"

new stuff 5/15

Ranma found himself having a lot of trouble fighting one Himitsu, let alone five simultaneously. Each one was as powerful as the original. It also didn t help that Ranma could not tell which one was the original, figuring attacking her would cause the other clones to disappear.  
"All of 'em must be clones," Ranma said to himself as he continued to dodge wave after wave of invisible projectiles, "That can only explain it,"  
Ranma noticed that all five clones seemed to work in perfect harmony, utilizing a great sense of teamwork. This he found amusing because the five of them displayed teamwork that the rest of the Akatsuki didn't seem to display. He was struck from the back and sent flying. While he was able to dodge most of the clones incoming attacks, he occasionally got hit, all of them from behind.  
She knows how to exploit my blind spot, Ranma thought in annoyance. Four of clones attack at the same time to draw my attention so the fifth can attack me from behind.  
He found himself unable to attack any particular clone with his ki-blasts, each clone looking out for one another, at least two of them using their abilities to intercept Ranma's projectiles before it hit its target.  
"This sucks," Ranma muttered, his breathing labored, realizing that he needed to fight in close-combat with the clones. While Ranma was most skilled in terms of close-combat, it would definitely not be an easy task getting in close to any of the clones simply because four of the other ones would be either attacking him from all sides.  
Each clones seemed to stay a moderate distance away from him but situated themselves so they remained surrounding them.  
Realizing that he was in trouble, Ranma decided it was best to use his most ultimate technique.  
"Saotome Ultimate Secret Technique!" Without saying another word, Ranma ran away, leaving behind five surprised clones.

Neji was breathing heavily as he regarded his opponent, an old man whose outward appearance belied his fighting skills. His opponent was unlike any opponent he had ever fought before.  
Neji was standing near the middle of a clearing, the old man near the clearing's edge, near the trees surrounding it.  
The old man was completely intangible, able pass through anything like that of a ghost. He moved quickly and constantly used the trees as cover, passing through them whenever Neji would throw ki-laced shurikens in his direction. An opponent like that should not exist. Being intangible gave the old man a huge advantage. The old man had an incredible sense of evasion, utilizing his surroundings perfectly, even allowing himself to disappear into the ground when there were no nearby trees for cover. He seemed capable of detecting ki-based attacks and only dodged those in particular, Neji having realized that when he threw a regular shuriken at his opponent and the old man having done nothing, allowing the shuriken to simply pass right through him and becoming embedded in the tree behind him.  
While the old man's defensive capabilities were incredible, his offensive capabilities were severely lacking. The old man had no attack, none whatsoever. If he did, it seemed like it relied on the use of both arms, one of which had now been rendered useless. The old man's offensive capability seemed to be only passive and proximity-based. As long as the old man stayed within a close range to Neji, Neji found himself getting weaker. The old man's good hand seemed to be in a perpetual hand seal and that was what seemed to be causing Neji to slowly get weaker. Somehow, the old man was causing the ki to escape Neji's body and dissipate.  
If Ranma was there, he would most likely laugh and make a comment like 'Wow, the old man fights like Hinako-sensei, this high school teacher that used to pick on me', but he wasn't there to make such a comment. Besides, the old man seemed somewhat different for the he was making Neji's energy escape his body rather than actually absorb the energy into his own frail body.  
The old man's special ability made Neji's energy wane but not at a rapid rate. The problem was that the old man was patient and knew that Neji would eventually succumb when all his energy had dissipated from his body. It also didn't help that Neji's attacks were mostly ki-based and the fact that he could only rely on the use of ki was extremely taxing on the young boy's body.  
Expending so much ki just to get close to the old man, let alone actually be able to hit him, was slowly tiring Neji to the brink of exhaustion. Add to the fact that he was constantly losing his energy because of the old man's hand seal didn't help one bit. Neji found himself losing energy more quickly the closer he got to the old man. This was very bad because he needed to get close to stand a chance at being able to hit the old man with a ki-laced shuriken. Unfortunately, the fact that the old man used the trees and could even disappear into the ground made actually hitting him with such a projectile near impossible.  
"This is bad," Neji said to himself weakly, trying to figure out a way to gain an advantage against the old man. Ranma's preemptive strike should have been enough to sway a battle in Ranma's favor, but Neji was nowhere near as powerful a fighter as Ranma.  
Little did Neji realize that Ranma's attack had been extremely beneficial to Neji for the old man would have been able to cause Neji to lose his energy much more quickly had he the use of his other arm for performing the necessary hand seal to do so.  
Neji glanced toward the side and noticed the box sitting in the middle of the open field. The old man used to carry it on his back but had abandoned it shortly after they he and Neji have begun fighting. He had no idea what it was for but had a funny feeling it had nothing much to do with the old man, let alone a secret weapon of his. 'You're highly skilled for a boy of your age,' the old man signed 'It's quite a shame that you will have to die'  
"Who are you? And why are you here?" Neji asked, assessing his situation. While he felt his energy ebbing, he knew that stopping to talk instead of attacking meant he was losing energy less quickly. He seemed to have forgotten that he would not understand what the old man said through sign language.  
'It is of no concern to you' the old man signed. He was much like the other Akatsuki members, taking care to never divulge information needlessly. It was one of the reasons why the very few people knew of the Akatsuki Organization's existence.  
The old man's eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly found himself unable to move.  
"Gotcha!" came Shikamaru's voice as he emerged from a bush behind the old man.  
"It seems like the tables have turned against you," Naruto grinned as he emerged from behind Shikamaru.  
Neji felt a wave of relief at seeing both Shikamaru and Naruto. While he was surprised to see Naruto was very much conscious, the relief he felt seemed to take precedence.  
"You're back," Neji said, smiling slightly.  
"Yes," Shikamaru said.  
'It seems like I've found out what your secret ability is' the old man signed.  
The old man turned around to face Shikamaru. This surprised the young boy because he was supposed to be held fast by Shikamaru's Shadow Bind technique. It looked as if the old man was temporarily bounded but broke free of it as if it was nothing.  
"How-" Shikamaru was shocked. While it was possible to break free of his Shadow Bind Technique, it was no easy feat and usually required a massive amount of determination to do so.  
Naruto, realizing the old man was free, seized the opportunity to attack, "We don't have time for this!"  
He lunged at the old man, punching at his face. It came as a great surprise to Naruto when his fist passed right through the old man, Naruto stumbling forward trying to regain his balance, eventually tumbling forward and falling flat on his face.  
"What the?" Naruto said, quickly getting back up to his feet.  
Shikamaru took a few steps back to assess the situation.  
Neji said, "Be careful. He's physically intangible,"  
"Intangible?" Naruto wasn't aware of what the word meant. "Idiot, it means he can't be harmed through conventional attacks," Neji spat, "Only chakra works against him,"  
"Only chakra, huh?" Naruto grinned, "That doesn t sound hard. I'll just use my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,"  
"No, wait!" Neji said.  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto said as couple dozen clouds of smoked appeared around him and the old man.  
When the smoke disappeared, the old man was surrounded by Naruto clones. Shikamaru was silently amused at Naruto's stamina. Naruto had summoned dozens of clones, shot a ki-blast, summoned Gamabunta, and shot another ki-blast. How was Naruto able to continuously tap into his energy reserves?  
Shikamaru wondered if Naruto would be more cut out fighting against someone like the old man. While Neji was a skill fighter in the use of ki, Naruto's monstrous stamina might prove more effective.  
"Since clones are made of chakra, their attacks are chakra-based," Naruto grinned as his cunning plan, "This is gonna be a piece of cake,"  
The old man grinned.  
He did a hand gesture where all the Naruto clones suddenly disappeared in the same fashion as they appeared. This surprised the heck out of Naruto as he wondered what kind of invisible area of effect technique the old man had just performed to do something like that.  
"Idiot," Neji shouted at Naruto, "Shadow clones disappear if their chakra gets disrupted. The old man's special ability causes anyone or anything within a certain proximity to him to lose chakra automatically,"  
"Oh," Naruto said, embarrassed.  
Naruto didn't have much time to be embarrassed before he suddenly sensed a powerful but invisible force of ki shooting out from a nearby bush and grabbing a hold of him, pinning his arms to his sides, lifting him up into the air.  
"Erk!" Naruto suddenly realized he was in big trouble.  
"What the?" Shikamaru and Neji said as they saw Naruto suddenly start hovering up into the air.  
"I've found you at last, Naruto!" came a woman's voice.  
Everyone turned their attention onto a woman as she emerged from a nearby bush. They noticed that she had one arm held forward in front of her, as if grabbing at the air, as if she had created a giant invisible hand to clamp down on Naruto.  
It was none other than Himitsu. "Who-" Neji began to say in the direction of the woman.  
"Leave!" Himitsu said in annoyance, glancing in Neji's direction, "I'm in no mood for child's play. Leave or you will die,"  
Neji regarded Himitsu, feeling a great aura of power to her. He noticed that she was missing one arm, the wound still fresh, blood dripping from it and down the side of her outfit. "Your arm," the old man, shocked to actually see his leader hurt for a change, let alone missing an arm.  
"Leave me be," she said in a cold voice that seemed to frighten the old man, causing him to take a cautious step back away from her.  
Himitsu regarded Naruto as Naruto seemed to struggle to free himself. As he hovered in the air a short distance in front of her, all that could be seen of his struggling were his feet and head, the rest of his body bound tightly by her invisible ki.  
"Let go of me!" Naruto shouted at the woman.  
"Silence!" she said, manipulating her ki to squeeze Naruto tightly.  
Naruto gave out a yelp of pain before suddenly falling into unconsciousness. A loud crunch could be heard as both of Naruto's arms were broken from the pressure of the invisible force exerted on his body.  
"Well?" Himitsu seemed impatient toward Neji and Shikamaru, "What are you waiting for? Leave or die!"  
Neji cast a glance toward Shikamaru, wondering what they should do. There was a terrifying aura to this newcomer and he felt a genuine sense of fear at what she was capable of. "We will not let you take our friend," Shikamaru said, trying the best to sound firm. The sense of fear was very evident in his voice, "We're not going to run away while you take our friend,"  
"Very well," Himitsu said in a cold voice.  
Naruto suddenly dropped to the ground in a loud thud as Himitsu released her hold over the young boy and used her free hand to send out a wave of ki at Neji and Shikamaru. Both boys were struck with devastating impact, sent flying backwards where they crashed against nearby tree and fell to the ground unconscious.  
Neji and Shikamaru didn t stand a chance.  
Himitsu turned her attention back onto Naruto, making a gesture again and picking Naruto back off the ground, this time held by the collar of his jacket by the invisible force, the young boy's arm hanging limply against his body.  
"Where is the container?" Himitsu asked the old man.  
'Very close by. Do you wish for me to retrieve it?' the old man signed.  
She nodded.  
"Yes,"

Ranma glanced over his shoulders where he saw five pursuing clones.  
Man, they react quickly, he thought. Ranma had only managed to get a one second head start before all five clones realized he had been trying to run away and started chasing after him. While he wasn't necessarily sprinting, it seemed like all five clones had no problems keeping up. Besides, he had trouble running at top speed because his legs felt like they were on fire. He had taking a pretty bad beating from the clones and didn't want to put push his body to its limits if possible.  
As he ran, he hit a few branches, breaking them perfectly so that they would fall down and hopefully impede the pursing clones. Unfortunately, all five of seemed to possess the power to utterly destroy the falling branches before those branches slowed any of them down.  
Hm, I didn't know she could use her powers while on the move, Ranma thought. Of all the times I've went up against her, she had been standing still to use her powers. This is the first real time I've seen her, or her clones for that matter, use the power while on the move. That makes things a lot more difficult. It seems like she's starting to show her true abilities now. As Ranma ran, a brilliant flash light shot up into the sky and through the forest from in front of him. The light was so brilliant that it temporarily blinded Ranma, causing him to crash into a tree, sending the tree toppling over from the impact. Still blinded and seeing nothing but white spots in front of him, Ranma quickly got to his feet and turned around, ready to fight. While unable to see, he knew the pursuing clones would be upon in a second.  
He found himself surprised when none of the clones attacked him. Instead, they ran right passed him, as if they suddenly realized they had a new objective and that dealing with Ranma was no longer necessary.  
"She did it!" one of the clones said as she and the other disappeared into the forest in the direction Ranma had originally been heading.  
Ranma took a moment to gather his thoughts, wondering what had just happened and what the brilliant flash of light was and what might had caused it. It definitely wasn't from some kind of ki-blast.  
He stood there for a moment, waiting for his eyes to become adjusted to the darkness of night again. As he did, he sense this massive aura of ki emanating from the direction the clones had headed. "What the hell is causing that?" Ranma thought.  
Ranma had never sensed such a terrific aura of ki before. He knew in an instant that it wasn't the same kind of aura that Himitsu generated, or even Ryoga or anyone for that matter. It was a very pervasive aura full of malevolence.  
With his eyes now adjusted back to the darkness, curious as to what was causing it, Ranma quickly jumped up into the air and landed on the very top of a tree to see what was going causing such an aura.  
"What the Hell is that?" Ranma asked himself as he saw something he had never seen before.  
In the far off distance, around a mile or so away, was what looked like a giant fox with nine tails. The creature seemed to dwarf Gamabunta, standing around a hundred and fifty feet tall. Only one thought crossed Ranma's mind.  
"What the Hell's going on here?"

new stuff 5/27

There existed nine legendary demon in Naruto's world. How powerful a demon was could be arbitrarily determined by the number of tails said demon possessed. For instance, Shuukaku, the demon that Gaara possessed within his body was a mystical creature. Shuukaku was considered the weakest of the legendary demons, possessing only a single tail. Despite being considered the weakest of the legendary demons, Shuukaku was no push-over. It was possible for a single-tailed demon to kill a nine-tailed demon even thought it would be extremely improbably.  
Ranma stood on the top of a tree as he watched the strongest demon seemingly attack at something on the ground, biting down toward the trees, its hundreds of feet long tails swaying in the night, one tail destroying a nearby mountain with a single swipe. He watched as the tails slapped upon the ground, causing the earth to split open like a gaping wound.  
"Is that the Nine-Tails?" Ranma noticed the number of tails on the demon fox, "If it is, shouldn't it be sealed within Naruto? How did it get out?"  
Realizing that the only way to get the answers he needed to the questions running through his head, Ranma sighed as he quickly hopped from tree top to tree top, heading off in the direction of the Nine-Tails.  
"I hope Naruto's okay,"

"Ugh," Lee heard Sasuke's groan and quickly slowed his pace, "Shizune-sama, I think Sasuke's waking up,"  
Shizune slowed down to a stop, Lee doing the same. "Place him down on the ground," she said as she placed Ton-Ton on the ground as well. The pig, having woken up from unconsciousness a few minutes ago while Shizune had been running while carrying it, limped away and disappeared into the forest to find a hiding place. It had gotten used to going into hiding without needing to be told. "Ton-Ton, you need to rest," Shizune called out to the pig but the pig was already gone. It seemed like Ton-Ton had forgotten that it had lost its leg a short while ago and had already gotten used to walking on it after it had been skillfully attached.  
Realizing she didn't have time to go after Ton-Ton, Shizune checked Sasuke's pulse and found it to be steady.  
Sasuke slowly opened his eyes.  
"You're awake," Lee commented with a smile.  
Sasuke felt like Hell. His entire body ached as he tried to sit upright. "How do you feel?" Shizune asked.  
"Terrible," Sasuke said, looking around and wondering where he was. He noticed that his brother was nowhere to be seen, "Where's my brother?"  
"We left him," Shizune said.  
"What?" Sasuke said, "I must find him!"  
Shizune grabbed a hold of Sasuke's shoulder, "Grab a hold of yourself! Your brother is dead! Now is not the time to grief! You can grief him later!"  
Sasuke noticed the seriousness in Shizune's voice, "Why? What's going on?"  
There came a rustling from some bushes behind them.  
They all turned around, just in time to see five Himitsu clones emerge from the bushes and heading straight toward them.  
"What the?" Shizune gasped in surprise. The ground below them shot upward like a tidal wave as one of the clones attacked the group without provocation. Shizune, Sasuke, and Lee were blown bodily backwards where they crashed against nearby trees, falling to the ground, Lee and Sasuke knocked unconscious in the process. Shizune barely clung on to consciousness.  
She lay on the ground as she watched the five clones run right by her and disappear into the forest. It seemed like the clones weren't chasing after them and merely attacked the group as a means of shoving them aside much like the way a person in a hurry would shove some poor hapless pedestrian aside that happened to have been in his or her way.  
The clones looked like they were in a hurry somewhere.  
She cast a glance toward Lee and Sasuke as they lay nearby. Both of them were bruised and bloody. She tried to crawl over to where one of the boys were but was unable to. Her body refused to move, too badly damaged to do anything her brain was tying to Will it to do.  
"Bwee!" came a snort as Ton-Ton, unscathed, emerged from a nearby bush.  
"You're okay," Shizune said weakly. She found it almost laughable how the pig managed to do so well in such a chaotic situation.  
Shizune closed her eyes as she succumbed to unconsciousness. Ton-Ton nuzzled Shizune a few times to make sure she was okay before limping over to where Sasuke and Lee were.  
She then sniffed at the air and before quickly limping off in the direction from where the clones had come from.  
Ranma heard the sound of pig from down below.  
"Ton-Ton?" he asked himself. He quickly hopped off the branch and down to the ground far below. When he landed on the ground, he found himself face-to-face with Ton-Ton.  
"You're wake. What are you doing here?" Ranma asked, "Where's Shizune and the other?"  
"Bwee! Bwee!" Ton-Ton snorted urgently.  
"Shit! Take me to them!" Ranma said, quickly picking up Ton-Ton with his one good arm.  
Ton-Ton pointed its snout slightly to the left of which way Ranma was facing.  
Ranma ran through the woods where he came upon the motionless bodies of Shizune, Sasuke, and Lee. Placing Ton-Ton down on the ground, he quickly rushed over to Sasuke and checked for his pulse. Ton-Ton was right. There was none. Sasuke had stopped breathing.  
Ranma proceeded to give the young boy CPR, resuscitating him. After a few chest compressions and blowing some air into the boy's mouth, Sasuke started breathing again.  
"Phew," Ranma said in relief. He turned toward Ton-Ton, "Good call. Once again, you managed to save a life. What happened here anyway?"  
Ton-Ton snorted a few times.  
"Yeah, I know about the clones," Ranma said, "It seems like they're heading somewhere. I dunno what happened, but I think Nine-Tails has been freed,"  
Ranma proceeded to pick up all three unconscious bodies. He wanted to go after the clones and find out what was going on but assuring the safety of Shizune and the others were of top priority.  
Carrying all three bodies and Ton-Ton, Ranma ran in the opposite direction of where Nine-Tails was.  
Ranma carried everyone a mile south from where they had been found, stopping by a cave. He contemplated dropping everyone off there, figuring it would be a safe distance away from all the chaos but decided against it. A mile away from the battle field wasn't a safe distance away. As much as he wanted to drop them off and head in the direction of the demon fox, he knew he needed to get them a few miles away.  
He carried everyone a good five miles South and halfway up the side of a mountain before deciding this was a safe enough distance to drop everyone off. Because there was no cave nearby, so he used a ki-blast to make his own cave.  
After he was satisfied with the make-shift cave he had created, he carried everyone inside and placed them down.  
Ton-Ton snorted at him after he placed the pig down first.  
"No, I'm not gonna wake them," Ranma answered, "I'll just let them rest. All of them are hurt but nothing very serious. They all need rest to recuperate,"  
Ton-Ton snorted again.  
Ranma shook his head, "No, I'm not gonna be staying. I need to go find Naruto

As Ranma headed in the direction of the Nine-Tails, he sensed a sudden emergence of battle aura from its direction, a different aura from that of the Nine-Tails.  
Curious, Ranma hopped up to the top of a nearby tree to inspect. Once at the top of a tall tree, he was able to see what was going on.  
"What the Hell's going on here?" Ranma asked.  
A few miles away were two massive demons fought one another. Both demons looked like giant animals, one being looking much like a fox with nine tails and the other looking much like a wolf with five tails. The wolf could be seen biting at the fox with its razor sharp teeth as the fox seemed to retaliate in the same fashion.  
"Now where did that five-tailed wolf come from?" Ranma asked, scratching his head.  
Ranma felt a great sense of foreboding at what was to come. What he was seeing was akin to seeing two Unit-01 fighting one another, two entities of unimaginable power fighting each other.  
As he headed in their directions, Ranma noticed that the nine-tailed fox seemed to be more powerful than the five-tailed wolf. While the wolf seemed to be doing a good job in attacking and defending, it seemed evident that the wolf would soon lose the fight. They could be seen snapping at each other with their fangs as well as using their tails as whips a few miles away from where Ranma was.  
"They must be some kinda creature summons," Ranma said, completely unaware that he was actually watching two legendary demons fighting one another all this time.  
While he didn't really want to know what was going on and where those two creatures came from, Ranma knew he needed to get closer to find out a few answers to the many questions floating around his mind. For instance, where did those creatures come from? Why are they fighting? Who summoned them?  
Ranma soon found himself running on the ground, all the trees having been crushed from the massive bodyweight of the battling demons. He looked around at the devastation, reminded of the kind of devastation that would most likely ensue if he and Ryoga ever went at it in the middle of a giant forest.  
As he ran, he caught sight of the unconscious bodies of Neji and Shikamaru. He almost missed them had he not been actively scanning the area for anything of interest.  
Both young boys were lying unconscious a short distance from one another. He quickly checked both boys out and found them to be okay. Neji had a dislocated shoulder so Ranma quickly popped it back in its place without a second thought.  
"I better get them to safety," Ranma said, already deciding he was going to take them to the same make-shift cave where he had dropped off Ton-Ton, Sasuke, and Ton-Ton.  
He picked up both boys and started heading off in the direction of the make-  
shift cave. He didn't move more than a hundred feet before he caught a small flash of orange a short distance away from where he was. He placed the boys back down on the ground, zeroing in on the orange.  
A short distance away, he saw a small container. There was a small orange piece of orange cloth sticking out of said container. "This is that box that old man was carrying," Ranma recognized the object, approaching it.  
Glancing over to the side, he caught sight of the old man lying on his back. Ranma didn't even need to inspect the old man to know that he was dead. The old man's body seemed to have been crushed beyond recognition. Tangible to ki-based attacks, it seemed like some giant foot made of ki had stepped on him.  
Little did Ranma know was that was what had exactly happened, that the old man had been killed when the Nine-Tails stepped on him after having been released to this world.  
"What the Hell happened here?" Ranma thought.  
Ranma regarded the orange cloth sticking out of the small container for a moment. It looked very much like the cloth that made up Naruto's outfit. "No way! It can't be!" the blood drained from Ranma's face as a thought flashed across his mind that Naruto might actually be inside that tiny container.  
Ranma punched the container a few times, destroying it. His fears came to fruition when he saw Naruto's mangled body flop to the ground, the walls of the container no longer having held him in such a confined position.  
Naruto's body was red with blood. His arms and legs were twisted and wrapped around his body, the bones broken in several places. The container was very small, to small to fit a human body, but it seemed like, somehow, Naruto had been forcefully shoved into the container, his arms and legs broken and twisted in order to do so.  
The young boy was unmoving, seemingly dead.  
Ranma checked for a pulse and, to his disbelief, found one. It was very weak but steady.  
Naruto's body felt very cold. It seemed like he would be going into shock before long.  
Damn, what a tough little kid, Ranma thought in relief. All that training he has undergone has made him resilient to what would've been fatal wounds and attacks.  
Ranma ripped off Naruto's shirt and quickly inspected the young boy's body for injuries. There seemed to be no indication of internal injuries, the injuries pertaining only to his appendages.  
I need to get Naruto some help or he's going to lose his arms and legs, Ranma thought. Gently picking the young boy up as, Ranma headed over to Shikamaru and Neji lay and picked them up as well. He then made a beeline in the direction of where he had safely placed Shizune and the others. He was a few miles away from her and in desperate need of rest but he knew that now was not the time, that people depended on him.  
While the two demons fought one another viciously, Ranma carried the three young boys off and away from their battle.  
"I'll find out more about those two creatures later,"

Shizune felt a nudge.  
She slowly opened her eyes.  
"Ugh," she groaned as she felt her body in a world of pain.  
She found herself looking up at the ceiling of a cave. Light could be seen flickering about from a nearby fire near the entrance to the cave. She turned her gaze toward the side where she saw Ranma. "Ranma," she said weakly, slowly sitting upright.  
She looked around and found herself in want seemed like some kind of cave. However, it didn't seem to be a naturally formed cave for the walls looked like they had been recently disturbed, as if someone had recently dug a hole into the side of a mountain that resulted in such a cave.  
"Where am I?" she asked, rubbing her head.  
"In a cave I made," Ranma said.  
"Made?" she asked.  
"Yeah, I used a ki-blast to blow a hole into the side of a mountain," Ranma said, "It's not important. Anyway, I need your help," Shizune noticed his voice showing signs of urgency.  
"What's the matter?" she asked.  
Ranma gestured toward Naruto as the young boy lay right behind him. Shizune gasped as she saw Naruto's mangled limbs.  
"Oh my God! What happened?" she tried to rush toward Naruto's side but stopped when bolts of pain shot through her body.  
Ranma said in a soft voice, "Don't move,"  
"But Naruto needs my help!" she said loudly. She glanced right past Naruto and saw the unconscious bodies of Shikamaru and Neji and Sasuke and Lee, "What happened to Shikamaru and Neji?"  
Ranma watched as Shizune banished the pain her body was in to inspect Naruto.  
"Naruto's okay at the moment," Ranma said.  
"But not for long," Shizune said, "His arms and legs have been damaged almost beyond repair,"  
"Can you help him?" Ranma asked, "That's why I brought him here, so you can take care of him,"  
Shizune said nothing for a moment, "I don't think I can,"  
"What?" Ranma said in surprise.  
"I'm completely out of energy," Shizune said sadly.  
"Don't worry about that, I'll supply the energy," Ranma said, "If I supply you the energy, will you be able to heal him?"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"Well?" Ranma asked.  
"I really don't know," Shizune said, "I've never treated anyone so badly injured. The bones in his arms and legs have been completely shattered,"  
"But you know how to fix bones," Ranma stated matter-of-factly, "I've seen you fix broken bones. You've fixed my broken ribs,"  
"Yes, but they're just a few clean breaks," Shizune said, "I can fix a few breaks here and there, but a few hundred, that's completely different,"  
"But it's the same premise," Ranma stated, "You simply need to perform more of 'em,"  
Shizune said in a sad voice, "I don't think I can. I'm completely out of energy and the amount of chakra needed to perform something of this magnitude is beyond my own abilities,"  
"I can give you the energy you need if that's what you mean," Ranma said.  
Shizune thought about the comment for a moment.  
"Do you think it's still possible?" Ranma asked.  
"I think so," Shizune said.  
"Good," Ranma smiled.  
Shizune watched as Ranma sat down right behind her. He placed his good hand on her shoulder.  
"Are you going to give me energy like before?" Shizune asked, bracing herself for the deluge of energy that she would be entering her body.  
"No," Ranma said, "I'm not going to give you my energy. Some energy is lost in the transfer from my body to yours. I'm gonna eliminate that loss,"  
"Then what do you plan on doing?" she asked.  
"I'm going to meditate," Ranma said, "I'm gonna have it where the ki my body absorbs through meditation will hafta go through your body first before coming into mine,"  
"You're turning me into some kind of energy conductor?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "That's the gist of it. Rather than me giving you my ki, I'm gonna have it where you get the ki from your surroundings instead. You need to make use of it quickly because the ki entering your body will go into my body. Basically, you're going to be an extension of my body. Just redirect the ki as you see fit before you lose it as it goes into my body,"  
"Um, okay," Shizune nodded, "I'll try,"  
Ranma took a deep breath. Shizune awaited patiently for the energy she needed to start healing Naruto. She placed her hands over one of Naruto's mangled arm, waiting patiently for Ranma to do his job.  
A massive flood of energy started entering her from every pore in her body. She felt energy coursing through her every inch of her body, flowing in the direction of her shoulder where Ranma had placed his hand.  
Too much energy is coming into me, Shizune thought. I feel like my body is going to explode.  
"Go on," Ranma's voice seemed to steady Shizune's nerves.  
Shizune quickly took a deep breath and turned her attention toward Naruto. She extended her hand over his one arm, willing her energy to enter the arm and begin its mending process. As she looked at her extended arms, she noticed the scratches around her forearms started to slowly heal.  
She pulled her arm away when she was actually able to see the ki leaving her fingertips and enter Naruto's arm.  
I can see my chakra, Shizune thought in astonishment. Wait, I don't have time to stop and be surprised. Naruto needs my help. He will lose his arms and legs if I don't take care of him right now.  
Shizune proceeded to channel the energy into Naruto's arm, manipulating the shards of bone together like that of a jigsaw puzzle. The efficiency how the energy did its job was incredible, not only was the energy used massive in quantity but potent in quality. If mending a bone was like putting out a forest fire with a bucket of water, the amount and quality of energy Ranma was providing her was as if she was now using a tidal wave to battle the same forest fire.  
Several minutes elapsed before Shizune had managed to save one of Naruto's arms, fixing it as if it had never been broken. She immediately turned attention on the mangled leg closest to her, repeating the same process as she had done with his arm before.  
"How's it coming along?" Ranma asked, his eyes still closed as if still mediating.  
"Incredibly," Shizune said, "I've already fixed one of his arms,"  
"Is that good?" Ranma asked. Ranma didn't know if that was considered good by this world's standards. Several minutes to heal someone on Luna's and Lina's world was considered incredibly slow. If Luna was there, she would be able to heal Naruto's injuries with a single word and a snap of her fingers. "Yes, most definitely," Shizune said earnestly.  
Together, Shizune and Ranma tended to Naruto's wounds. Before long, she had managed to heal one of Naruto's legs and proceeded to heal his other arm.  
"This is incredible," Shizune stated, "Whatever you are doing to help me is leaps and bounds beyond the healing capabilities of this world. It's like I'm performing healing miracles. I'm in a state of shock at how quickly this process could heal someone,"  
Ranma said nothing. He didn't want to offend Shizune. This was because the people of that world seemed to be unaware of the concept of drawing in ki from their surroundings and preferred to draw ki from within. Drawing ki from within instead of without was nowhere near as efficient.  
Just as Shizune was nearing completion of healing Naruto's arm, a loud rumbling noise could be heard coming from a short distance away from the cave entrance.  
"What's that rumbling?" Shizune asked.  
"I dunno," Ranma said.  
Ton-Ton, whom had been sitting near the campfire most of the time, quickly ran into the cave squealing frantically at Ranma and Shizune.  
"Alright, I'm coming," Ranma got up to respond to Ton-Ton's request.  
He cast a glance toward Shizune, "Shizune, you think you can finish up taking care of Naruto's other leg without my help?"  
Shizune nodded, "Yes, thanks to you,"  
She had plenty of energy inside of her, her body having absorbed an adequate amount of energy and then some. She felt almost completely fine and full of energy. At this rate, she would be able to not only finish healing Naruto but would be able to fully heal Neji and "Oh shit!" came Ranma's voice, "This isn't good. If they keep fighting, their battle will move right into where we are,"  
Shizune didn't like the tone of Ranma's voice and quickly got up to see what Ranma had seen to make him say such a comment. Naruto was no longer in any danger of going into shock so she believed she could take a second to satisfy her curiosity.  
"Look, thing's are gonna get ugly in a second," Ranma said, "Do your best to finish healing Naruto and getting everyone revived. Wake everyone and get the Hell outta here. I'll do my best keep those monsters distracted,"  
Emerging from the cave, Shizune gazed down the side of the mountain where she saw Ranma making his way down it. She then looked up in the direction of where Ranma was headed. She gasped in horror at what she saw. She recognized both Legendary demons as they battled one another.  
"That's the Five-Tails and Nine-Tails!"

new stuff 5/31

Ranma made his way down the side of the mountain, dreading what was to come. The side of the mountain was at a steep angle so he found himself leaning backwards as he slowly descended to keep his balance.  
"Damn, I didn't have time to recover some ki," he said to himself.  
While he had no gripe in spending his time helping Shizune save Naruto's life, Ranma wished he had bothered to spend some time on himself to meditate and draw in some ki for himself. He was very low on energy and was in desperate need of rest. It also didn't help that he still had a shattered hand.  
A short distance from the base of the mountain were the two fighting demons. All the forest area surrounding the base of the mountain had been destroyed from the constant fighting, crushed under the weight of both demons' massive paws. Ranma looked back and forth between the two fighting demons, wondering exactly what was going on and why they were fighting each other in the first place. He didn't think about it much because he knew he needed to do something or risk them accidentally stumbling upon Ranma's make-shift cave if they continued on fighting the way they did.  
"I need to get their attention," Ranma said to himself, pointing his good hand forward and toward an area right between both fighting demons.  
"Ranma!" he heard Shizune's voice from up the mountain behind him.  
"Yeah?" Ranma called back in reply.  
"The Nine-Tails! Attack the Nine-Tails!" Shizune shouted out to him.  
Ranma turned his attention onto the demon fox, wondering what he should do. "No. I can't," Ranma shouted back.  
That was the way Ranma was, to not do anything unless he knew what was going on. For all he knew, the Nine-Tails could be trying to defend itself from the five-tailed wolf. He did not want to misunderstand the situation at hand. However, from what he was observing, it seemed like the wolf and the fox were some kind of mortal enemy and were both trying to kill each other for whatever reasons unbeknownst to Ranma.  
"Why not?" Shizune shouted down toward Ranma.  
"Because, I dunno what's going on," Ranma said.  
"That's the Nine-Tails!" came Shizune's impatient reply, "It's an evil demon!"  
Shizune felt a myriad of emotions as she watched the Nine-Tails in battle not a mile away from the cave entrance. Its massive size made the fox and the wolf seem much closer than a mile.  
She hadn't seen the Nine-Tails in over fourteen years. She had been a very young girl when the Nine-Tails attacked Hidden Leaf Village, her hometown. She had lost both her parents that night, the both of them having sacrificed themselves to keep the Nine-Tails distracted long enough for the Fourth Hokage to arrive.  
She glanced down toward Ranma's back as he was a good two hundred feet down the side of the mountain. She had no idea why Ranma wasn't listening to her and attacking the Nine-Tails. The Nine-Tails was an evil demon and needed to be killed in whatever way possible.  
"Ranma! What are you waiting for?" she shouted down to him.  
Ranma ignored Shizune as he quickly ran down the side of the mountain, heading straight for the battling demons. As much as he wanted to start throwing ki-  
blasts left and right to get their attention, he knew that it would be a bad choice on his part.  
He needed to know more about what was going, like where those two demons had come from and why they were fighting. For all he knew, Nine-Tails could be spiritually connected to Naruto and the death of Nine-Tails could very well mean the death of Naruto. Swallowing the huge lump in his throat, Ranma ran the one mile distance between him and the battling demons. When he got within a hundred feet of them, he realized just how huge they were up close. They made Gamabunta seem miniscule in size.  
Oh boy, I have a good feeling I'm really not gonna like this approach, Ranma thought to himself. "Hey!" Ranma shouted out toward both demons from the ground far below.  
Both demons paused momentarily to gaze down at Ranma.  
Ranma suddenly realized he had no plan of action after getting both demons' attention. His main plan was to somehow distract them and draw them away from the mountain side where the make-shift cave was, but he had no real idea exactly how he was going to do that. He never really thought his plan through before actually calling out and getting both demons' attention.  
"Um, go away!" was the first thing that popped into Ranma's mind, making a shooing motion toward the demons. He was pretty sure something like that wasn't going to work but it couldn't hurt to try.  
Without provocation, the Nine-Tails opened its massive jaw and snapped at Ranma, attempting to swallow him whole. It missed Ranma for Ranma simply leapt backwards and out of the way.  
He leapt back again as one of the nine giant tails slammed on the ground right where he landed, barely missing him. Massive clouds of dust were created as well as a small tidal wave of earth rippling from where the tail had impacted on the ground, momentarily knocking Ranma off balance when he landed and the ripple passed right under him.  
The Nine-Tails looked like it was going to attack him again but was forced to turn its attention onto the five tailed wolf as it tried to bite down on the fox's neck, jumping back out of the way before the wolf managed to land a bite.  
Ranma hopped back several times until he was a safe distance away from the battle.  
"Okay, I guess trying to be diplomatic didn't work," Ranma said to himself. He pressed a hand to his chest and felt his rapid heartbeat. It was unusually fast, most likely for this sense of fear he was feeling.  
Both demons exuded massive amounts of battle aura, more battle aura than anything Ranma had ever come across. The five tailed wolf seemed to generate far more battle aura than the nine tailed fox, leading Ranma to believe the wolf was going all-out while the fox held back slightly.  
As Ranma observed both demons fighting, he looked around for some tell-tale sign as to why they were fighting in the first place. Perhaps the Nine-Tails was protecting its young or something along the lines. After a quick scan of the bleak surroundings of nothing but flatted and destroyed forestation, Ranma came to the conclusion that there were no off-  
springs belonging to either the wolf or the fox.  
Ranma found himself back pedaling as the battling demons slowly made their way in the direction of the mountain side where the make-shift cave was. When he realized that he needed to do something and fast or risk Shizune and the others getting caught in the battle, Ranma decided it was best to throw caution in the wind and start shooting ki-blasts to get both demons' attention.  
"Mouko Tak-" Ranma began to say.  
Before Ranma shot out two ki-blasts, one for each demon, the five-tailed wolf made what seemed like a suicidal lung at the nine-tailed fox, biting at one of its front legs. It was as if the wolf was running out of options and it had decided to make a do-or-die attempt at changing the course of battle to its advantage.  
The wolf bit down on the fox's leg with extreme viciousness, the fox letting out a shriek of pain. The sound of bone could be heard snapping in the fox's leg from the pressure being exerted. Blood spewed out from the wounds on the fox's leg like a deluge, the wound becoming ripped wide open as the fox tried to pull its leg out of the wolf's clenched jaw.  
"The wolf's neck is wide open," Ranma said.  
As if on Ranma had predicted, as the wolf bit hard on the fox's front leg, the fox clamped its massive jaw down on the back of the wolf's neck. Ranma felt sorry for the wolf for he knew that it was a fatal blow, that there was no way the wolf was going to survive an injury like that. Ranma knew enough about animals and knew a fatal wound when he saw one. A wound that deep was fatal and the wolf will eventually die from blood loss.  
As Ranma watched from a safe distance away, he watched as the wolf released its jaws from the fox's neck and bit upward and into the soft underside of the fox's throat.  
Both demons clenched their teeth tightly around the necks of their opponents. The sounds of bones could be heard cracking from the massive jaw pressure both demon animals were capable of exerting. Blood spewed everywhere, coloring a huge section of the ground red.  
Ranma watched as the wolf brought around all five of its tails around the side of its body and stabbed right into the fox's chest area like daggers. The fox yelped in pain but never released its bite, instead, bringing all nine of its tails around its own body and stabbing downward, right into the back of the wolf.  
"So gruesome," Ranma felt sick to his stomach.  
At that point in time, the fox decided enough was enough, that it had held back for far too long and may have made a bad mistake in doing so. While its jaws were still clenched around the back of the wolf's neck, fire shot out from its mouth, engulfing the animal in flames.  
The wolf released its jaws from its opponent's neck, howling in excruciating pain. The entire devastated forest flickered a brilliant shade of red and yellow from the fire that engulfed the wolf's body.  
With the last of its remaining strength, the wolf pulled its tails out from the fox's chest and all five stabbed at the fox's face, two tails managing to pierce both of the fox's eyes.  
The fox released its jaws from the wolf's neck as it reeled back in pain from having both of its eyes stabbed. Blood poured from its damaged eyes as well as its one front leg and the underside of its neck. The wolf, engulfed in flames, proceeded to roll around on the ground in an attempt to put out the flames engulfing its body. It was a very gruesome sight for Ranma to behold as he saw the wolf being burned alive. Even though he knew he should not interfere with the battle and that he should let everything unfold naturally, Ranma couldn't bring himself to watch the wolf die a horrible fate. While he had no idea what the circumstances were in allowing the wolf to live, Ranma was willing to take the risk.  
Ranma extended his one good arm in the direction of the flaming wolf.  
"Hiryu Shoten Ha! Horizontal Wave Revised!"

new stuff 6/1

A massive column of wind shot forward from Ranma's extended fist, crossing the distance between him and the dying wolf in a fraction of a second. It passed over the wolf, blowing the flames out much like a tidal wave of water washing over it.  
Almost as quickly as the wolf was engulfed in flames, the flames were extinguished, leaving behind the badly charred body of the massive wolf. The animal could be seen struggling to get to its feet, as if Ranma's help had managed to give it a little bit more time to staying alive.  
As the demon wolf struggled to get to its feet, Ranma turned his attention onto the demon fox where it could be seen swiping on the ground twisting and turning in pain from having its eyes gouged out. "Damnit! What the Hell am I supposed to do?" Ranma shouted at himself. He watched as the demon wolf slowly got to its feet, its legs seemingly struggling to support its massive weight. It looked to be on the brink of complete collapse from all the injuries it had sustained, remaining standing based on sheer willpower.  
As Ranma watched the demon wolf zero in on its opponent and struggle to slowly make its way toward the writhing demon fox, he felt like he should do nothing, that it was not his place to decide the outcome of that battle.  
Seemingly using its finally reserve of strength, the demon wolf lunged forward, clamping its massive jaws down on the throat of the demon fox. As the demon fox lay on the ground, it let out a blood curdling scream of pain as it pawed at the air and the wolf, scratching at the wolf in the process.  
Its nine tails whipped about like two hundred foot long columns of fur and muscles, crashing on the ground and cutting into it like a knife through butter, chasms opening up front the impact of the individual tails.  
Ranma watched as the demon wolf got down on its body and rolled around once, performing a death roll while its jaws were still clamped down on the demon fox's throat, performing a move very similar to the one crocodiles performed.  
"Ugh!" Ranma turned his gaze away when he saw a large chunk of the demon fox's throat being ripped out, blood gushing from the gaping wound in the fox's throat.  
In the throes of excruciating pain, still unable to see, the demon fox lashed out at its unseen opponent, bringing all nine tails together and stabbing the wolf right through the chest, piercing right through the animal and out its back, using its nine tails like a giant sword.  
The demon wolf fell to the ground without so much as a whimper, already having resigned itself to death. It lay on the ground as a massive amount of blood poured from its many wounds, especially the gaping wound in its chest.  
The demon fox could be seen writhing in pain as it tried to gasp for air through the opening in its throat. It could be seen slowly limping away from the fallen demon wolf, seriously wounded, perhaps fatally wounded. It limped with only three legs, all three of them shaking from the strain to hold up the demons weight, its forth leg dangling loosely like it had no bones in it to give it any shape.  
As the demon fox limped away, energy could be seen leaving its body much like the way steam could be seen coming from hot water on a cold day. This lead Ranma to believe that the demon fox was dying and it was only a matter of time before the demon fox died of blood loss.  
Ranma turned his gaze onto the demon wolf where he saw energy leaving its body in a similar fashion, perhaps more rapidly. It seemed like both demon creatures fought one another vicious and had managed to mortally wound one another, the demon wolf having suffered more injuries in the process. For some odd reason, Ranma didn't feel all that bad about what happened to the demon fox. If this was indeed the Nine-Tails, and the stories about the death and destruction it had caused back in the past were true, then perhaps this world was better of without it.  
Ranma knew nothing about the demon wolf and found himself very curious about it. He noticed that the wolf seemed to lay very still. The fox could be seen still limping away, a few hundred feet away from where the wolf lay, seeming wandering around aimlessly now that its eyes had been gouged out.  
He watched as the demon fox continued to limp away before suddenly falling to the ground, unable to continue on, finally succumbing to its injuries.  
"Hm, that was rather anticlimactic," Ranma commented, feeling somewhat relieved. When he was observing both demons fighting one another, he worried that he might have to fight the winner of the battle, or worse, both of them to keep them away from Shizune and the other. Luckily, it seemed like that that would not be the case. The demon wolf had fallen to the injuries it had sustained in battle, the demon fox falling to its injuries as well only a short time later.  
Ranma looked back and forth between the two demons and noticed that both of them seemed to be shrinking, as if the energy slowly dissipating from its body was what give it its massive size. He decided to run over to where the wolf lay, to see what would become of it. He stood nearby the wolf as it lay on its side and continued to shrink in size. After a few minutes of continuous shrinking, the shape of the wolf seemed to melt away to form that of a human.  
"What the?" Ranma said.  
Before long, Ranma found himself gazing down at none other than Himitsu.  
Ranma regarded Himitsu with wide-eyed surprise.  
He couldn't believe what he had found out. Himitsu was the Five-Tails. She had somehow taken on the form of the giant wolf to battle the Nine-Tails. Somehow, she had managed to actually kill the demon. Unfortunately, she had been mortally wounded in the process so she had lost the battle every bit as badly as the Nine-Tails.  
It had never crossed his mind that Himitsu had actually been the Five-Tails, believing the wolf to have been something of a summoned creature much like Gamabunta. It seemed like he had underestimated Himitsu and what she was capable of.  
Himitsu looked nothing like the young woman Ranma remembered, barely recognizable from the burns that covered her body. Most of her hair was gone, having been burned off. Only tiny shreds of her outfit covered her body. She was still missing an arm.  
Realizing that demon wolf had shrunken down to reveal Himitsu, Ranma turned his attention on to the Nine-Tails, wondering what shocking secret he would discover. He glanced off to the side where saw what remained of the Nine-Tails after it seemed to shrink into nothingness. He did not find a human person. Instead, the demon fox had shrunken all the way down to reveal a tiny normal looking fox as it lay on its side. The fox looked like it was sleeping.  
"Hm," Ranma wondered aloud. What was the significance of the fox now? Was it some kind of retainer of the spirit of the Nine-Tails? Was the Nine-Tails actually a demon entity that took on form of a fox? Could that fox be a creature capable of assuming the form of a massive nine tailed demon fox and had reverted back to its original form after having taken too much damage?  
Ranma watched as the tiny fox could be seen awakening for what seemed like a deep slumber. Hundreds of questions passed through his mind as he tried to figure out what the significance of the fox was.  
If that's really the Nine-Tails' true form, I better capture it, Ranma thought. Even though I'm pretty sure it's nothing more than a normal fox, I guess it's best not to assume anything.  
Ranma proceeded to walk over toward where the fox could be seen slowly getting up to its feet but stopped when he felt a sudden wave of ki shooting in his direction from behind, leading him to believe that Himitsu was very much alive and capable of using her powers.  
He turned around and braced for impact but was never struck. Instead, he felt the small but intense bolt of ki shoot pass right by him. Aware that Himitsu had amazing aim with her ki, he realized that she didn't miss him, that she was aiming at something else.  
Ranma quickly turned his attention in the direction where the projectile where he suddenly realized its intended target, the fox a couple hundred feet away from where he was. The fox was struck by the projectile in its body where it then exploded outward in a bloody mess a second later. Ranma didn't need to walk over to check out the fox to know that it was dead.  
He turned his attention toward Himitsu where he saw her lying on her back, her one good arm pointing in the direction of the fox, her attention in the direction of the bloody mess that were the remains of the fox.  
He saw her smile inwardly before dropping her arm down and looking up into the sky, as if she had accomplished something very important in her life.  
Ranma quickly approached Himitsu as she lay motionless on her back.  
"Are you okay?" Ranma asked her, regarding her for a moment. For a brief moment, Ranma's and Himitsu's eyes met.  
"Go on," Himitsu said in weak voice, "Finish me. I'm ready to die,"  
"Why did you do what you did?" Ranma had to ask, thoroughly confused.  
"It's none of your concern," she replied acidly. "It doesn't make sense," Ranma said, "Why were you attacking the Nine-Tails? Why were you intent on killing it?"  
Himitsu said nothing. She harbored great animosity toward Ranma and had no intention of indulging satisfying his curiosity. All she did was smile a smile of self-satisfaction as she closed her eyes and awaited for death to bestow her.  
Ranma proceeded to slowly turn her over onto her stomach. Himitsu, unable to move due to her severe injuries, could do nothing as Ranma gently flipped her over and on to her side.  
Even though she no longer had nerve endings on her body, all of them having been burned off, she felt Ranma's hand on her back as the hand seemed to check the countless wounds.  
"W-what are you doing?" Himitsu sneered.  
"I'm gonna save your life," said Ranma, his voice serene and confident.  
This confused Himitsu. This was the same Ranma she had been trying to kill a short while before, right? He even tried to kill her on a few occasions. Why was he trying to save her life? It didn't make sense.  
"Why?" she asked softly, very confused. "Because, there's obviously more to you than I originally anticipated," Ranma said, "It seems like you're not as so-called 'evil' as most people make you out to believe,"  
Himitsu snorted in annoyance. The world considered her an evil individual and she had no gripes about it. She had killed many people in her life and felt no remorse in doing so. No one really knew her and she wanted it that way.  
Ranma inspected Himitsu's wounds and realized that she had been mortally wounded. She was bleeding profusely and it was even a shock that she was still alive. She was also shivering, a sure sign that her body was going into shock.  
"Heh, finally realized it's too late to save me, huh?" Himitsu laughed, "I've been mortally wounded. There's nothing that can be done,"  
Gently placed Himitsu back on her back, Ranma extended his hand toward her and proceeded to allow his ki flow from his extended hand and into her body.  
Ranma was positive he could save Himitsu. Himitsu had a constitution very much like his own and it was definitely possible to not only stabilize her but to heal her wounds. Himitsu's body was intoned with ki much like Ranma's body. If he passed her a large amount of ki, her body would heal itself. She was simply out of energy which made her weak and slow of healing. All he needed to do was give her the energy her body needed so it would automatically start healing itself.  
To Ranma's surprise, the ki flowing from his extended hand didn't enter her body. Instead, it washed over her, as if the ki wasn't able to enter her body so it could go about with healing her.  
"What the?" Ranma didn't understand what was going on. This was the first time in his life he was unable to pass energy onto someone very much in need of energy. "Don't bother," Himitsu said weakly, "I refuse your help,"  
Ranma's eyes widened as he realized Himitsu's words. She was rejecting Ranma's energy.  
"Why?" Ranma said loudly, "I'm trying to pass you some energy so you can use it to heal yourself. I'm trying to help you. Why are you blocking me out?"  
"It's none of your concern," Himitsu smirked.  
Even though the young woman was smirking, she looked to be on the brink of tears, as if she was fighting to remain composed.  
"You're going to die at this rate!" Ranma said to her, "Why would you choose death over living?"  
"Because it's my choice," Himitsu said, "I rather choose death over life,"  
"Why? It doesn't make sense!" Ranma said, still trying to pass her his energy.  
"That's none of your concern," she said.  
Ranma looked deeply in her eyes.  
For a brief moment, their gaze met solidly. Ranma was able to look deeply into her eyes and see into her past and find out what kind of person she was. Even though Ranma's self-imposed rule to never read into a person's thoughts because it was an invasion of her privacy, he was willing overlook that because a person's life was at stake. If he could save her life, then it was worth it.  
After a moment, Himitsu turned her gaze away, unable to continuously look into Ranma's piercing blue eyes. Ranma said, "Himitsu, are you sure you want to let it end this way?"  
"Yes," Himitsu said confidently.  
"Fine," Ranma stopped attempting to pass his energy to Himitsu.  
Ranma proceed to sit down behind Himitsu, sitting her upright so that she was basically leaning her back against Ranma's chest, her head resting in the nook of his neck.  
"What are you doing?" she asked weakly, a bit confused.  
Ranma gave her a sad smile, "I'm gonna stay here with you,"  
"Why?" she asked, now thoroughly confused.  
"Because, that way, you won't die alone," he said in a reassuring voice, "I know we've had our differences but also know that I have no intention of letting you die alone and cold,"  
Tears started to flow freely from Himitsu's eyes as all the suppressed emotions seem to surface.  
"W-why? Why are you doing this?" she asked between sobs.  
"Because, I know exactly how you feel," Ranma said in a soft voice, "I've been through the exact same pain you've been through and I know you don't want to die alone and cold,"  
Himitsu said nothing. For some odd reason, whatever animosity she held toward Ranma seemed to disappear. It was as if Ranma understood her, that all that she had done was nothing truly personal.  
Ranma felt Himitsu's life slipping away with every second and knew she didn't have long.  
"Close your eyes," he said softly, "Just listen to my voice,"  
Himitsu did as she was told, closing her eyes. Then again, perhaps she was so weak now that she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.  
"You've grown strong," Ranma said in a soft voice.  
"Thanks," she said, smiling, her eyes still closed.  
"You did really well," Ranma added, "Yondaime would've been proud of you,"  
Himitsu's body became limp as the last of her life left her, but not before she managed to say some parting words.  
"Thanks,"

Shizune and the other approached Ranma as Ranma stood over the dead body of Himitsu.  
When they all arrived, the looked down at her and didn't know whether or not to feel relief or sadness from her death. "What happened?" Shizune asked.  
"She chose to die," Ranma answered, "She could've been saved but she chose to die instead,"  
Shizune was surprised at the comment.  
"It seems like this world has Himitsu pegged completely wrong," Ranma said, "Everyone believed she was an evil individual, but in reality, she was actually a tormented soul,"  
"What do you mean by that?" Shizune didn't understand.  
Ranma wiped at his eyes because he felt genuinely sad for Himitsu for the young woman lying dead in front of him was an eerie reminder to Ranma of the type of person he used to be.  
"Himitsu is just like me, a person with a very troubled past," Ranma said.  
"How?" Shizune asked, listening intently.  
"Do you know who Himitsu is?" Ranma asked.  
Shizune nodded, "Yes, she was the leader of the Akatsuki Organization, a group hell-bent on achieving absolute power,"  
Ranma shook his head, "No, that was all a fa ade. The Akatsuki Organization never existed,"  
"What?" Shizune found Ranma's explanation too incredible to believe.  
"Himitsu was the heart of the Akatsuki Organization," Ranma said, "But the true agenda of Himitsu was hidden from all its members,"  
"True agenda? What true agenda?" Shizune asked, "You mean she had some kind of agenda besides acquiring the power of the Nine-Tails and becoming basically omnipotent?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yes. As a matter of fact, that was the farthest from her hidden agenda,"  
"Then what was her hidden agenda?" Shizune asked.  
"She wanted to kill the Nine-Tails," Ranma said, "She wanted to rid this world of the Nine-Tails,"  
Shizune wasn't buying any of that, "What the heck makes you say something like that?"  
"Because I know," Ranma answered, "I don't care if you don't believe me though,"  
During the brief moment Ranma's and Himitsu's eyes met, Ranma was able to find out everything he needed to know about Himitsu. While he was against the invasion of privacy, that being her thoughts, he knew he had to do so. It was the an atrocity if her story was lost to the world. He wanted to do her a dying favor and pass on her story so that others will know of what kind of person she really was, not what kind of person people believed she was.  
"Okay, let's pretend that she wanted to kill the Nine-Tails, why?" Shizune figured she would humor Ranma's explanation.  
Ranma took a deep breath as he prepared himself to explain Himitsu's background.  
"Himitsu had a very tragic past," Ranma began, "It seems like she is very much like Gaara. Much like the way Gaara was imbued with the essence of Shuukaku, she had been imbued with the essence of the Five-Tails. Her past was very much like Gaara in that she was seen as a weapon, not a human being. However, as she grew older, she got stronger, and eventually was ostracized by her village much like the way Gaara was. When she was around ten, she and the Forth Hokage first met and became friends,"  
"She knew the Fourth Hokage when he was young?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yes. They were very close friends. From what I understand, he used to visit her village for some young-ninja tournament every year and they hung out for one day all day when he was visiting the village,"  
"Annual young ninja tournament, huh? That means she's from the Mist Country," Shizune commented, "I've read of the Forth Hokage's biography and it mentions of him participating in an annual young ninja tournament that's held in a major village in Mist Country. However, I've never heard mention of him ever having a friend named Himitsu,"  
Ranma said, "That's because it's not her real name,"  
"Himitsu isn't that woman's name?" Shizune asked, gesturing toward the dead Akatsuki leader lying nearby.  
Ranma shook his head, "No. It seems like the Forth Hokage gave her her name. I think that's why there is no mention of her in his biography, because no one knew her name but the Forth,"  
"Interesting," Shizune said. "Over the years, Himitsu and the Forth became very close," Ranma said, "They only saw each other once a year, during the time when the Forth was visiting her village to participate in a young ninja tournament. Unfortunate, the Forth eventually grew too old to participate in the tournament and stopped going to the village,"  
Shizune said nothing. She wondered how Himitsu would take something like that. If Himitsu lived a lonely life like Gaara, she most likely looked forward to the day when the Forth would visit. It must be absolutely heartbreaking to have waited for an entire year for that one special day to meet a close friend, only find out that the friend never showed up.  
"What happened then?" Shizune asked curious, caught up in the explanation, forgetting that she was originally very skeptical about how Ranma seemed to know these things about her.  
"When he didn't show up on the expected meeting place and meeting time, Himitsu waited for him every day for several years," Ranma said sadly, "Sadly enough, it seems like Himitsu had developed feelings for the Forth over the years they were meeting and wanted to confess her feelings to him the next time they met,"  
"So on the day she wanted to meet him and confess, he never showed up because he had grown too old for the young ninja tournament and stopped visiting the village?" Shizune felt very sorry for Himitsu.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, unfortunately. She waited for him every day for several years,"  
"Where did she live? How did she survive?" Shizune asked, wondering if it could be possible that Ranma might be able to answer such a question. However, even if he made it up, it would most likely seem very plausible.  
"She doesn't need to eat or sleep," Ranma said, "Oddly enough, she seems to have a more advanced constitution than me. I rarely need to eat or sleep but I still need to do so. It seems like she doesn't. I guess it's because she gets her energy from the Five-Tails sealed within her,"  
Shizune wondered if Himitsu's waiting for the Forth had developed her a sense of patience. "Go on," Shizune wanted to hear more.  
"After a few years, the Forth visited her, and they met up," Ranma said.  
Shizune was transfixed on Ranma's story, wanting to know what happened next.  
"It seems like a big misunderstanding had occurred," Ranma said with a sigh, "It seems like on the year before the Forth would become too old to participate at the young ninja tournament, he had asked for her to visit him at Hidden Leaf Village,"  
"Wait, you mean for several years, the Forth was waiting for Himitsu to meet him at his village?" Shizune asked, caught up at the moment, "That's almost like some kind of romance novel, two people waiting for one another yet not knowing they were waiting for the other,"  
"I guess you can put it that way," Ranma shrugged, "I guess their signals got mixed up so Himitsu never found out about the Forth now participating in a new tournament for teenage ninjas,"  
"So what happened after they met up after a few years? Did she confess?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma shook his head, "No. It seems like she was too scared. What made it even worse was what the Forth had said to her,"  
"What did he say?" Shizune asked.  
"He had suggested that she become strong and participate in the women's division of the tournament at Hidden Leaf Village," Ranma said with a sigh.  
"Why the sigh?" Shizune asked.  
"Because, it seems like that's where everything went down hill from there," Ranma said, "You see, because of Himitsu's past personality, she's actually very shy and meek and always felt inadequate,"  
Shizune asked, "You're telling me that the leader of the Akatsuki Organization used to be some shy, meek young girl? I find that hard to believe?"  
"People change," Ranma shrugged, "Anyway, Himitsu seemed to have gone off on her own traveling the country side and trained to become strong like the Forth had suggested. The problem was that because of her general low self-esteem, she never felt herself confident enough to participate. Before long, she grew too old to participate in the tournament the Forth wanted her to participate. By now, she was an adult. After a few years, they end up meeting again at her village when the Forth was curious why she never showed up for any of the tournaments. Because she was too old by then, the Forth suggested that she train for the high level tournament, to participate in the adult tournament. Because of her lack of self-esteem, she went on to train some more," Ranma chuckled a bit, "The funny thing is that she basically became more powerful than anyone alive but her self-esteem never made her realize that. She always felt that she needed to train more, to become better and more powerful. Afterall, that's what the Forth Hokage had suggested,"  
"It seems like she took the Fourth's suggestion too literally," Shizune commented.  
Ranma nodded, "That's right, she did. I guess it was a combination of things that made that happen. She had somehow fallen in love with the Forth when they were young. He had made a comment about how it would be cool if she became strong. And because of her personality, she went on training to make him happy, but never had the confidence to realize that she was actually strong,"  
Ranma became silent as if he didn't want to go on.  
"Then what happened? Surely she must have eventually realized that she had trained for long enough," Shizune stated.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. She did. Here's the sad part. Over the years, she slowly started to grow more and more confident about herself and her usually meek and shy personality started to disappear. One day, she went to Hidden Leaf Village to visit the Forth. Somehow, she had gotten word that he had become Hokage of his village. She wanted to use that opportunity to congratulate him and confess her feelings and tell him that she believed she was strong and ready to start participating in the tournaments he had suggested many years ago,"  
"Did they meet?" Shizune asked.  
"No," Ranma said in a sad voice, "You see, the very night before Himitsu visited the village, the Fourth had died protecting the village,"  
Shizune said nothing, feeling very sad for Himitsu. To find something like that out must have been devastating for her.  
"She somehow found out that the Forth had been killed by the Nine-Tails and that the Nine-Tails had been seal away," Ranma said, "That was basically the turning point in her life. When she found this out, she vowed to avenge the Fourth's death and seek out the Nine-Tails and kill it. She believed the Fourth was the most powerful person in the world so she knew that she needed to become stronger to kill something capable of killing the most powerful person in the world. She basically became power-hungry to become strong enough to kill the Nine-Tails. She created the Akatsuki Organization not soon afterwards and proceeded to assimilate abilities from all those she came across,"  
"Itachi's and Sasuke's clan happened to be one of those caught in her search for power?" Shizune asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "Himitsu wanted power to avenge the Fourth's death. The Uchiha clan were one of the many victims in her search for more power,"  
"So let me get this straight, all her actions were based on her wanting to become strong enough to get revenge and kill the Nine-Tails?" Shizune asked.  
"That's basically the gist of it," Ranma answered, "It's really messed up if you think about everything and how people seemed to be intertwined with one another and how everything panned out like some kind of convoluted story. The Fourth is killed defending his village against the Nine-Tails, sealing the demon in the process. Himitsu, wanting revenge for the death of the person she had fallen in love with, goes after the Uchiha clan for their Sharingan ability so she could become more powerful. Itachi kills the clones that replaced his clan to keep the Akatsuki Organization from realizing that he was on to their plan, that the Akatsuki Organization wanted their Sharingan ability. Sasuke isn't aware of this so he becomes power-hungry in order to become strong enough to kill his brother, Itachi, in order to avenge the death of his so-called clan, even though they were all killed when he was just a baby,"  
"What's this you said about the Akatsuki Organization being some kind of fa ade?" Shizune asked.  
"Himitsu had created the Akatsuki Organization because she wanted help finding the Nine-Tails and acquiring more power," Ranma said, "All the members of the Akatsuki thought their ultimate goal was the acquire the power of the Nine-Tails as their own and become super powerful. Himitsu had every intention of betraying the very organization she had formed the moment she found the Nine-Tails and killing the demon instead. In a sense, she intended to betray the Akatsuki similar to the way Itachi intended to betray the Akatsuki,"  
"How did the Akatsuki find out how to separate the Nine-Tails from Naruto?" Shizune asked.  
"The container comes from Himitsu's past," Ranma said, "The container has some kind of special properties in imbuing individuals with special powers as well as removing them. You see, the container used to extract the Nine-Tails from Naruto's body was the exact same container used to imbue Himitsu with the essence of the Five-Tails. From what I know, it seems like what she was forced to go through makes what Naruto went through seem tame in comparison,"  
"Why was she imbued with the essence of the Five-Tails?" Shizune asked.  
"To become a weapon for that village," Ranma answered, "Her childhood was basically no differently than that of Gaara's. They were both imbued with their respective demons in hopes of becoming controllable living weapons when they got older, but the village realized they made a mistake when they couldn't control them and left them alone shortly afterwards where they were shunned by society,"  
"That's so sad," Shizune stated.  
"It seems like Himitsu's intention were noble, but the course she took to achieve such an objective were anything but noble," Ranma commented, "Himitsu isn't the evil person this world makes her out to be. You see, she doesn't understand the difference between right and wrong because she was never taught this. The only moral teachings she ever received was from the Forth, and that teaching was to die fighting for something you love. Where the Forth believed in dying in protecting his village, Himitsu believed in dying to avenge his death,"  
A tear fell from Shizune's check as she found Himitsu's past so tragic.  
"All of this sounds so sad," she said.  
"I feel very sad for Himitsu," Ranma said, "For around fourteen years after the Fourth's death, Himitsu wanted to die to be by his side. For all this time, she lived just so she could get her revenge. Her pursuit for revenge was what led her to do the things she did. She only lived to get revenge. That's why I saw her in wolf-form attacking with such reckless abandon against the Nine-  
Tails, because she knew she wasn't going to live after that battle because there was nothing left to life after she killed the Nine-Tails,"  
"Didn't you say you could have saved her?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, but she didn't want to be saved. She only had one goal in her life, the death of the Nine-Tails. With that goal fulfilled, there was no reason for her to go on living,"  
Shizune said, "She should have lived, so she could atone for all the crimes she has done,"  
"Perhaps, but it wouldn't matter," Ranma said, "She's almost incapable of feeling remorse. She had been consumed with revenge that the concept of remorse is basically lost to her. All that mattered was the goal she had set, the death of Nine-Tails, and she no problems doing whatever she could to attain it. She was so consumed with revenge that she had basically lost her humanity. Luckily for us, she had chosen to be human and saved Naruto's life,"  
"She saved Naruto's life?" Shizune asked, "And just how do you expect something like that to be true?"  
"Naruto was supposed to die," Ranma cast a glance toward Himitsu's body, "She saved his life,"  
"How?" Shizune pressed on.  
"Naruto's life is intertwined with the Nine-Tails," Ranma said, "If the Nine-  
Tails was removed from Naruto's body, Naruto was supposed to die. It seems like Himitsu had some remnants of humanity within her because, when she found out that Naruto was the son of the man she was in love with from so long ago, she couldn't bring herself to allow him to die,"  
"Still, how did she save him?" Shizune asked.  
"It seems like Naruto was supposed to die when the Nine-Tails was forcefully removed from his body," Ranma said, "However, instead of allowing him to die so the Nine-Tails could be released, Himitsu somehow used her powers to cut Naruto's bond with the Nine-Tails and restore his body so that he didn't need the power of the Nine-Tails to live. She basically performed surgery on Naruto when there was absolutely no reasons why she should have. She did is because she didn't want Naruto to die,"  
"She's some kind of medical ninja?" Shizune was surprised to say. Ninjas specialized in certain aspect of their training, usually losing out on one skill to excel on another. For instance, Shizune herself wasn't all that great in Genjutsu and Taijitsu in exchange for a high level of skill in terms of medical arts.  
"Yes," Ranma said, "She excelled at everything. And I think I know exactly why. Because of her quest to achieve enough power to kill the Nine-Tails, she basically lost her humanity and no longer retained the traits that would've made her human in the first place. That's why she was so strong, because she had so much control over the powers of the Five-Tails within her. This was because she no longer had a human side to her fighting for control over that of the Five-  
Tails. The human aspect of her didn't exist to keep the powers of Five-Tails at bay like the human aspect of Gaara and Naruto kept Shuukaku and the Nine-Tails respectively at bay. That was why she was so powerful, because she didn't possess human powers. She had the powers of a legendary demon,"  
"But you were able to handle her," Shizune asked, "What does that make you? What did you have that made you capable of dealing with her where no one else could?"  
"Experience," Ranma shrugged, "I've got decades and decades of experience over her. Luckily, it proved advantageous for me,"  
Ranma shuddered at the thought of just how powerful Himitsu could have eventually have become. Considering he did have trouble with her and she was fairly young and inexperienced compared to Ranma, she would be dreadfully powerful had she continued on getting stronger and stronger over the decades.  
"How was she able to actually beat the Nine-Tails? The Nine-Tails is the most powerful demon in the world," Shizune commented, "If she possessed the powers of the Five-Tails, it would still not have been enough to beat the Nine-Tails,"  
Ranma said, "That's because she didn't beat the Nine-Tails. She died killing it. She wasn't strong enough to beat the Nine-Tails but was strong enough to end the battle with a draw, the both of them killing one another,"  
Ranma was silent for a brief moment.  
"It seemed like my being there was what did it," Ranma said, "She would most likely have died when she was engulfed in flames. She should have lost at that point in the battle. But because I put it out for her, it gave her enough of a window to end the battle in a stalemate and actually inflict the mortal wound on the Nine-Tails that would not have occurred had I not been there to help. In a sense, I managed to help her just enough so that she was able to end the battle in a stalemate instead of actually being defeated,"  
Shizune said, "I'm still shocked at the thought that the Nine-Tails was killed. A legendary demon was immortal and could not be killed. The only way to deal with a legendary is to seal it,"  
"Maybe only a demon can kill a demon," Ranma said.  
He cast a glance at his shattered hand. Hm, if a legendary demon can't be killed, then that could explain why I couldn't kill her. "You think that that could be the case, that only a demon can kill a demon?" Shizune asked.  
"It's possible," Ranma shrugged, "If only God could kill God, then I won't be surprised that something like that would apply for demons,"  
"God could kill God?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "It's really not important. The fact of the matter is that it's possible that only someone like Himitsu is actually capable of killing something like a legendary demon. She might have very well did this world a favor by killing a demon that is otherwise unkillable,"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"It's really sad that she's gone," Ranma commented with a sigh, "She could've done great things,"  
"What do you mean?" Shizune asked.  
"She was not an evil person," Ranma said, "Her past experience made her what she is today. She could have just have easily become a savior, given the right circumstances,"  
Shizune shook her head, "I don't know about that. She chose this path. She didn't have to choose the path she took,"  
"She was in love," Ranma said, "Love makes you irrational. She basically had no choice when her sense of rationality disappeared along with the Fourth's death. There are triggers that can make a person do certain things. The Fourth's death was the trigger that started her quest for power. It's actually shocking what she wanted to be when compared to what she actually became,"  
"And what was that? What did she want to be?" Shizune asked.  
"Nothing more than a wife to the Fourth," Ranma said, "You see, she was a very shy girl and felt terrified of being rejected if she ever confessed her feeling to the Fourth. That's why she could never bring herself to confess, because she was terrified of the rejection. She continuously trained, using that as a reason to hold off on confessing and, thus, getting rejected,"  
"How did she know he was going to reject her?" Shizune asked, "If she never confessed, then she would never have known," "I know," Ranma said, "It's better to confess and be rejected than to not confess and fear being rejected. What made her decide to change and finally go to Hidden Leaf Village was that, one day before she decided this, she had some kinda dream where she was happily married to the Fourth. It seems the happiness of the dream washed away whatever fear of rejection she had, which is why she suddenly stopped training after so many years and went to Hidden Leaf Village even though she could have gone many years before. It's as if, after many years, she realized she wanted to be happy and be with the Fourth and the only way to do it was to confess,"  
"But when she went to his village to find him, that's when she found out he had died protecting it?" Shizune asked.  
"That's correct," Ranma nodded, "That's why she was Hell-bent on killing the Nine-Tails, because she viewed it as the killer of the one she loved and her future happiness,"  
"But what if the Nine-Tails incident never happened?" Shizune asked, "What if he rejected her confession?"  
"Well, that's a different story," Ranma shrugged, "I have no idea how the Forth would have responded. Even though Himitsu was in love with the Fourth, I have no idea what his feelings were toward her. It would've been cool if he shared the same feelings but I doubt it. Afterall, he was married and had a son when he died saving Hidden Leaf Village,"  
Shizune's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh my God, the Fourth had been in love with Himitsu all this time!"  
"What?" Ranma asked, "How do you know this?"  
"It was a marriage of convenience," Shizune said.  
"Oh, I didn't know that," Ranma said, "Then again, I know nothing much about the Fourth and his past. I never bothered really asking questions about him. All I know about him was that he used to be a Hokage and died saving Hidden Leaf Village from the Nine-Tails,"  
Shizune said, "I'll fill you in. The Fourth married the daughter of the leader of Hidden Rock Village from Earth Country. Our countries used to be at war with one another. The marriage gave way to peace talks which eventually lead to a treaty of peace between the two countries. Problems concerning peace between the two countries quickly started occurring when it was known that the Fourth was acting weird, making no attempts to make the marriage last,"  
"How so?" Ranma asked.  
"Once a month, the Fourth spent a day standing in front of the main stadium as if he was waiting for someone," Shizune said, "This led rumors to circulate that he was waiting for some secret lover or something,"  
"Did the Fourth wait by a tree located just to the left of the south entrance to the stadium?" Ranma asked.  
"H-how did you know this?" Shizune asked in surprise. While it was public knowledge that the Fourth did that one every month back when he was alive, Ranma should not know of a detail like that so readily.  
Ranma snapped his fingers, "So that was their meeting time place,"  
"What meeting place? Whose?" Shizune asked.  
"The Fourth had told Himitsu that when she felt she was done training and ready to participate in a tournament, she was to meet him at next to a tree located on the south entrance to the main stadium on the first day of every month," Ranma said, "Dontcha see? Every month, the Fourth went to the stadium to wait for Himitsu to show up,"  
Shizune said, "Do you think that could be?"  
"I'm not too sure," Ranma shrugged, "If what you tell me is true, then that means he was waiting for Himitsu every month. That's because, from what I found out about her, she was well aware of the meeting time and meeting place. It's just that her self-esteem had it where she always feel inadequate to meet up with him, that she needed to train more and get more stronger,"  
"Do you think that might have to do with the comment the Fourth always makes whenever he was questioned about that unusual habit of his?" Shizune asked.  
"Whatcha mean? Keep in mind I don't really know much about the Fourth," Ranma said.  
"You're right, the Fourth could always be found waiting by a tree at the southern entrance to the main stadium," Shizune said, "However, no one knew exactly why he did that and he told no one. Everyone believed he was waiting for someone, but when they asked him exactly who he was waiting for, he always responded with the same answer, 'The secret person I've been waiting for'. It was one of the mysteries to the Fourth that no one found an answer to. "Wait, didn't it become some kind of tradition, that people wait by where the Fourth used to wait on the first day of every month now that the Fourth passed away?" Ranma asked.  
He remembered seeing people waiting by the southern entrance to the main stadium as he and Sakura and Naruto walked by. He remembered making a comment about it and Sakura mentioning that people waiting there had become some kind of monthly tradition.  
Shizune nodded, "Yes, it became a tradition shortly after the Fourth died,"  
Ranma smiled, "Heh, it seems like you now know the answer to that mystery. The Fourth had been waiting for Himitsu and had been telling everyone the truth all the time when they asked him who he was waiting for. I guess no one picked up that he was actually waiting for someone whose name meant 'Secret', that being Himitsu,"  
"Do you think that's true?" Shizune found it very hard to believe.  
"It doesn't seem all that far-fetched," Ranma said, "It seems like Himitsu and the Fourth were constantly waiting for one another. Even though the Fourth was married and had a son, it seems like he was faithful to Himitsu since he always waited for her,"  
Shizune felt like she was receiving too much information, "This is so hard to take in. Do you really believe that the Fourth might've been in love with her?"  
"It's quite possible," Ranma said, "I know Himitsu was in love with him thought. But evidence suggests that he was in love with her as well. If he didn't, it seems highly unlikely he would wait for her for so long. For a marriage of convenience to almost not work out, especially where it meant peace between countries, that would indicate an outside variable, that being the Fourth being in love with someone else,"  
"That could be possible," Shizune said. She pinched the bridge of her nose, "Hearing all this is giving me a headache. The way things seem to work out seems almost concrete, but it also seems to incredible to even believe. It's almost unfathomable that the Fourth was in love with the leader of the Akatsuki Organization. It's like the epitome of all that is good being in love with the epitome with all that is bad,"  
"It was never like that," Ranma said, "Dontcha get it? Himitsu was no the person you know now. It was the death of the Fourth that made her into what she is today. Dontcha realize that the very opposite could have happened?"  
"What do you mean by the very opposite?" she asked.  
"What if Himitsu had been killed by Nine-Tails?" Ranma stated, "It is very possible that the Fourth would have gone down a similar path as Himitsu's to avenge her death. It could have been even worse because in doing so would surely start a war back up between Hidden Leaf Village and Hidden Rock Village,"  
Shizune said nothing, never having thought of it like that.  
"How come you're telling me all of this?" Shizune asked, "All that you've told me, as plausible as they may seem, is really hard to believe,"  
Ranma was silent for a moment.  
"Because, I want someone to know who Himitsu really was,"

new stuff 6/22

In front of a hospital located quite a distance away from where Ranma and the others had battled the Akatsuki Organization, a cool breeze blew by, breaking the silence of the night.  
It was located near the center of a moderately sized village. The hospital was much like any other hospital on that world, several stories tall and rectangular in design. Two female medical ninjas could be seen standing outside the entrance to the emergency ward, enjoying a short break from work. It had been a slow night, what with the fact that they are working the graveyard shift.  
"Sometimes, I wish I got busy," one medical ninja commented.  
"I know," the other medical ninja replied, "I feel like my skills are going to waste,"  
"Why don't you apply for the day-shift? I heard there are positions open," the first one asked.  
"You know me, I'm a complete night owl," the second woman replied, "I can't function well in the day time. Knowing me, I'd probably end up sleeping right through my day-shifts altogether if I were to work the day shift,"  
"I agree," the other said.  
Both medical ninjas laughed.  
As they laughed, a bright flash of light suddenly appeared in front of the hospital, bathing the otherwise dark surrounding area a brilliant shade of white. Both medical ninjas shielded their eyes from the light, producing daggers from their medical outfit, which consisted much like a regular ninja outfit sans the flack jacket. Even though they were considered more doctors than ninjas, their training made them ready to respond to anything, even hostile attacks on the village.  
When the light disappeared, it revealed Ranma carrying three young boys as well as the dead bodies of Himitsu and Itachi. Shizune was carrying Ton-Ton and two of the remaining boys.  
In one of Ranma's hands, the shattered hand that Shizune had finally gotten around to mending, was the nanban mirror.  
"Where are we?" Shizune seemed somewhat confused, "What did you do?"  
"I used the nanban mirror to transport us instantly to the nearest hospital," Ranma said.  
"What's going on here?" one of the medical ninjas called out in their general direction.  
Ranma turned toward both females.  
"Are you two doctors? We need help. We've got casualties,"

Ranma and Shizune were now sitting on a bench out in the hallway. It was around half an hour since their arrival. Shizune had expressed concern for the welfare of the boys and wanted to help out but was asked to simply wait while the medical staff tended to the boys' injuries. If this was the hospital where she worked out, it might have been a different story. However, she needed to observe medical protocols. If there was a fully capable medical staff available, her help would not be required.  
Since they had to wait until they heard news of the well-beings of the boys, Shizune and Ranma had indulged in conversation.  
Ranma leaned back on the chair. Shizune regarded him for a moment and noticed that Ranma looked relaxed, like there wasn't a care in the world.  
"So, what do you plan on doing?" Shizune asked after a moment.  
"Going home," Ranma smiled happily, "I'm definitely looking forward to going back home,"  
"Back home to your world?" she asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Most definitely. It was fun being here, but I miss my home. I've been away from home for a few months and it's about time I get back. Everyone's waiting for me,"  
"You don't plan on staying?" Shizune felt somewhat disappointed. As much as she knew that Ranma would eventually leave, she had grown fond of his presence and the thought of him leaving weighed heavily on her heart.  
Ranma shook his head, "No. I have a home to go back to,"  
"Exactly how do you plan on getting back home?" she asked.  
Ranma reached into his pocket and pulled out the nanban mirror. He held his breath as he did so, breathing a sigh of relief when he pulled it out and found it to be intact and perfectly fine. The nanban mirror had a propensity of breaking fairly easily so seeing it not broken after such a battle was quite a relief.  
"This is called the nanban mirror," Ranma said, making a gesture toward the mirror in his hand, "I'll use this to get back home,"  
"How does it work?" she asked.  
"It's thought-based," Ranma answered, "If you think of where you want to go, the mirror will instantly take you there. I've basically mastered the nanban mirror so I can go anywhere I want as long as I have it in my possession. Back then, I thought you needed to shed a tear on it to activate it so it can teleport you to wherever you want. However, that doesn't seem the case. All you need to do is give a very strong thought as to where you want to go and it takes you there,"  
"So thinking really hard about where you want can send you to that place?" she asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yes. If you think of the place really hard, it'll take you there. If you also think of a particular time period of that place, it'll take you to that time as well," "It seems like this relic is a lot more powerful than our world first thought," Shizune said, "It was considered the 'Tool of Banishment' where someone would use it to send an otherwise unkillable creature to some remote location on the other side of the world and away from any human civilization. To think that it could send a creature anywhere and anytime is almost incomprehensible,"  
Ranma smirked, "In a sense, you could have used this mirror to drop the Nine-  
Tails over the surface of the sun. Of course, the fact that you need to be able to make it possible means someone needs to grab hold of the Nine-Tails and think of the location to have the mirror send the two of them there. Appearing on the surface of the sun, the person who grabbed the Nine-Tails will be killed by the heat along with the Nine-Tails and the mirror will be destroyed as well. So, in essence, to do something like that is a one time thing,"  
Shizune said, "Well, wouldn't it be more feasible to send it to another world and leave it there instead?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Of course, since no one on this world was aware that it's capable of going to other worlds, I guess that would never happen. But now that you're aware of how powerful this mirror is, it can completely change the face of this world and how human would deal with demons and such,"  
Shizune said, "That's amazing,"  
"But until then, I need to use it to get back home," Ranma said.  
"Wait, if you go back home, the mirror will be lost to this world forever," Shizune said, "I can't allow that,"  
Ranma smirked, "Heh, it's not like you can really stop me,"  
Shizune narrowed her eyes at Ranma.  
"Don't worry," Ranma laughed, "I have no intention of doing such a thing. I have a mirror like this back on my world. After I use this mirror to get back home, I'll use the mirror on my world to come back here and give you guys the mirror,"  
"So you'll be coming back?" Shizune said, hopeful.  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded.  
Shizune smiled.

Meanwhile, in a remote location far to the north on Banishment Peninsula, Orochimaru slowly opened his eyes. He felt very disoriented and had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. It took him several moments before he was able to recall the last image he remembered seeing, Ranma's leg lashing out toward him and everything turning black afterwards.  
When he remembered this, he realized that he was probably still in mortal danger, that Ranma and Shizune and the others were most likely nearby.  
Looking around, Orochimaru noticed that he was in a forest and that he was leaning up against the trunk of a tree.  
He caught a glint of moonlight off a reflective surface directly in front of him. Looking forward, he noticed the reflection was coming from the blade of a dagger that was embedded into the ground hilt first. The dagger seemed very out of place, sticking straight up out of the ground.  
This confused Orochimaru for a moment as he narrowed his gaze on the dagger blade, wondering what its significance was. There, he realized its horrible significance. The dagger had been placed there by someone so that he would be able to see himself in its reflective surface.  
Orochimaru saw the reflection of himself and was horrified at what he saw. He looked down toward his body where his horrors were confirmed.  
Orochimaru cast his gaze downward toward his body. He look toward his arms and legs and realized there were none, that all four body parts were missing, gone. There weren't even any stumps to indicate that he even had arms or legs. His arms had been amputated all the way at the shoulders, his lower body all to the base of his spine. He was not only missing legs, but was also missing the entire pelvic area.  
They amputated my arms and lower body, Orochimaru thought with more animosity toward Shizune and Ranma than he had ever harbored toward Hidden Leaf Village.  
He then looked down toward his chest and realized his chest was wide open, as if someone had taken a scalpel and ran the blade straight down the center of his chest down to his waist. He didn't see any exposed ribs, the ribs of his ribcage having been removed surgically.  
Orochimaru looked forward again toward the dagger where he was able to see his reflection again. He concentrated his gaze toward the inside of the open chest cavity.  
Once again, he was shocked at what he saw. He saw his own beating heart and lungs. It was quite a disgusting sight to behold, something Orochimaru had never seen so closely. While he had seen horrible wounds on his victims where he saw their entrails and such, he had never seen his own actual beating heart.  
As Orochimaru looked at the reflection, he realized that all that remained of his body were his lungs and heart. It seemed like all his non-vital organs as well as a few vital organs had been removed. This made him realize that it was only a matter of time before he would die. Somehow, he had survived the shock his body would go through from having so many organs removed. That meant he would live just long enough to die a horrible fate when his body started shutting down from lack of vital organs. The fact that he no longer had kidneys meant his body would eventual poison itself since the kidneys were no longer there to filter out the toxins of the body.  
He looked more carefully and noticed ants crawling around the inside of his chest cavity. Because his entire body was numb, he never felt the ants crawling over his body.  
Shizune, Orochimaru thought. This is all Shizune's doing. Only she is capable enough from the group to numb my body to such an extreme so that she could perform such a surgery and keep me alive in the process.  
Orochimaru was aware that Shizune was a very skilled medical ninja much like Kabuto. Only she was capable of doing something like this to him and keep him alive in the process. The realization that someone was capable of inflicting such a horrible fate made Orochimaru realize that the knowledge Shizune possessed of the human body was truly frightening.  
It was such a horrible realization for Orochimaru, that someone capable of saving a life was also capable of inflicting such a fate.  
Orochimaru tried to move but found himself unable to. It seemed like Shizune had removed the muscles of his body when she was in the process of opening his chest up, making it impossible for him to move. It seemed like she had only left the muscles of his neck intact she he could look around and see himself and gaze upon his fate.  
It seems like this is my fate, Orochimaru thought. It seems like Ranma and his group have won and this is the outcome. I have lost.  
As Orochimaru allowed for the realization of his fate to settle in on his conscious, he started feeling pain, a burning sensation from all over his body. This made him believe that he was on fire for it definitely felt akin to being engulfed completely in flames from the neck down.  
Looking down, he realized that he was not on fire, that the pain he was feeling were from all the ants biting his body. The blood drained from Orochimaru's face as he realized that whatever painkiller Shizune had used on him while he was unconscious was finally wearing off. It was as if Shizune had used the perfect amount of painkiller to numb Orochimaru's body just long enough so that its effects would start disappearing after he came to consciousness.  
It seems like this is my fate, that she has left me with nowhere to go, Orochimaru realized. The only way out of this situation is to take my own life. She left the dagger there purposely so that I would have to take my own life.  
Realizing that he was doomed and the only way out was death, Orochimaru opened his mouth to grab at the knife with his long snake-like tongue. However, he was surprised when he didn't see his tongue come out like he expected.  
"What the?" he tried to say but his words failed him.  
He realized he couldn't hear his own words, that he couldn't feel his own mouth and tongue moving to form the words. Looking at the dagger, Orochimaru opened his mouth and saw that the inside of his mouth was red with blood.  
She removed my tongue, Orochimaru thought in shock.  
At that point in time, Orochimaru realized that he was doomed to feel the horrible fate that Shizune had given him. That he would be eaten alive by the ants, that even if he did manage to survive the pain, that he would die from the lack of vital organs, that he could no end his own life to free himself from such a suffering.  
Orochimaru gazed forward at the dagger and realized its true significance.  
It was there so that he could witness his own death.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" Shizune asked Ranma from out of the blue.  
Ranma and Shizune were both standing by the front of the hospital as they awaited the diagnosis of the boys they brought in. Ton-Ton was nowhere to be seen, having been allowed to sleep in one of the chairs in the waiting room inside the hospital.  
"I think you're a good person," Ranma said without hesitation, "Why'dya ask?" Shizune was silent for a moment as she wondered if she should tell Ranma. After a moment, she realized she was very comfortable around him and felt herself able to tell him anything.  
"Well, a chill just went up my spine a second ago," Shizune said after a moment, "It seems like Orochimaru has finally woken and realized his fate and is cursing my name this very moment. Oddly enough, knowing this, it makes me happy,"  
Ranma laughed loudly, "What didja do to him? Must've been really bad,"  
"More or less," she said, "If I think about it, I basically exploited my medical knowledge of the human body to satisfy a sense of revenge,"  
"Whatcha do?" Ranma asked, "Didja do something wicked like remove all his body parts and organs or something and left him there to eventual die from shock?"  
Shizune was surprised at the comment, "As a matter of fact, it went something along those lines, yes,"  
Ranma shrugged, "I guess that's a rather fitting end for that guy. While it probably would've been best to end his life outright to prevent any chance of him actually surviving to come back and fight another day, I'm pretty sure you knew what you were doing that you have eliminated any possible chance of him ever surviving such an ordeal,"  
"You have no qualms about what I did?" Shizune asked.  
"Nah," Ranma said, "I don't care what people say, revenge really is a dish best served cold. I know the feeling and it feels good,"  
Shizune smiled warmly, definitely taking a liking to Ranma. It was nice to know that there was someone close by that she was able to associate with.  
A female medical ninja emerged from the hospital and approached the two of them.  
"I have good news, all the boys are in stable condition," the woman said, "None of them are in any dangers from their injuries. In the meanwhile, we'd like to keep them here for a few day for observation before releasing them,"  
"Sounds good to me," Ranma smiled, "Any of them awake?"  
"The one named Sasuke is awake," the woman said, "I came here to get you. He seems to be anxious to get out of here,"  
"It's fine," Ranma said, "He probably wants to find his brother. I'll get things settled with him,"  
Together Shizune and Ranma followed the woman to where Sasuke's hospital room was. Once inside, they saw three medical ninjas straining to restrain Sasuke as the young boy seemed hell-bent on getting out of his bed.  
"Let go of me!" Sasuke was saying coldly, toward the three individuals trying to restrain me, "I need to find my brother!"  
"Enough," Ranma said in a loud voice that instantly caught Sasuke's attention.  
The young boy stopped his struggling when he saw Ranma.  
"Where's my brother?" Sasuke asked Ranma.  
"Your brother's dead. You won't find him here," Ranma said flatly. Shizune winced at Ranma's lack of tact but was glad she wasn't the one that needed to break the bad news.  
"Where am I?" the boy asked.  
"You're in a hospital," Ranma answered, "Your brother has been buried,"  
"Where?" Sasuke asked.  
"Ryugen," Shizune stated.  
"Ryugen? The cemetery village?" Sasuke asked, "Why?"  
Ranma said.  
"Because, that's where your true parents are also buried. It only seems fitting that he be buried with your true family,"

Over a particular gravesite that Ranma once observed Itachi giving respect toward his mom and dad, a bright flash of light appeared out of nowhere, shining Brightly, casting a long shadow from the tree nearby where Ranma had hidden himself once.  
When the light disappeared, Shizune, Ranma, and a shocked Sasuke found themselves standing right by a tree.  
"Heh, I'm sure the people at the hospital a freaking out right now at how we suddenly disappeared," Ranma chuckled as he waited for his eyes to become adjusted to the darkness of night once again.  
He then turned toward Sasuke.  
"Don't worry about how I got you from the hospital to here," Ranma said to Sasuke before the young boy answered, "I'll explain later. In the meanwhile, I believe there's someone you want to say goodbye to,"  
Ranma made a gesture toward a makeshift tombstone that was basically nothing more than two pieces of wood nailed into a cross that was sticking out of the ground. It was the same makeshift tombstone he remembered Itachi standing in front of a while back.  
"You see that grave? That's the grave of your real parents," Ranma said.  
Sasuke cast the grave a glance, "My real parents?"  
Ranma then made a gesture toward the freshly dug grave right next to the first grave, "If you look inside that grave, you'll find Itachi's body,"  
Sasuke quickly hurried over toward Itachi's grave and peered down. Inside, he saw Itachi's body. He looked at peace, as if he was sleeping. Seeing his brother's dead body brought a torrent of emotions to the young boy as tears started to freely flow.  
"We didn't bury your brother," Ranma said, "We figured it would be best for you to do it,"  
Ranma was pretty sure it was best for Sasuke to bury Itachi himself. It would give the young boy a sense of closure.  
"I know you're very confused right now about all that has happened," Ranma began, "But I think now's a good time for you to hear everything out and understand all the chain of events that had led all the way up to this very moment in time,"  
Sasuke wiped the tears from his eyes as he turned to Ranma.  
"I know of the childhood you've gone through because of your brother," Ranma said, "But I don't think you're aware of the truth behind everything. I think now is a good time for me to tell you of Itachi's story if you want to listen. Do you want to hear the truth about your brother, Itachi?"  
Sasuke was silent for a moment as he braced himself, "Yes,"  
Ranma took a deep breath as he prepared himself in explaining Itachi's past.  
"No matter what you think, your brother has always loved you..."

Ranma stood in front of what seemed like a random grave.  
Shizune approached him. A short distance away, Sasuke could be seen burying his brother. After having spent a good deal of time having Ranma explain Itachi's past and actions, Sasuke was finally convinced of what he believed all along, that his brother was a good brother. It was at that time that Sasuke had decided it was best to bury his brother, a symbolic gesture forgiving his brother for his past actions and now willing to accept closure.  
Shizune and Ranma stood in front of the seemingly random grave for a silent moment.  
"Do you think the world will ever know that this is Himitsu's grave?" Shizune asked. She was aware of location of Himitsu's grave because she and Ranma had come here almost immediately after having dropped the kids off at the hospital. They had buried Himitsu together.  
Ranma shook his head, "No. I doubt it. To the world, she's considered nothing more than some evil leader to the Akatsuki Organization. The stigma will never change,"  
"Yes, but you and I know the truth," Shizune stated, "We can convince the world that she was nothing like what everyone thought,"  
Ranma shook his head, "No, it'll be no good. While she did a heroic deed at the end of her life, her life is also marred with all those bad things she had done. The good she did will never outweigh the bad,"  
"That's most unfortunate," Shizune said, "I guess it can't be helped. Even though I know the truth about her and had actually witnessed everything, I still find it very hard to accept and look past all the horrible things she has done,"  
"I know," Ranma said, "She had her reasons for what she did. She was a woman in love that wanted revenge on the demon that killed the man she loved and stopped at nothing to attain the power to do so. The world will never accept those reasons as justified,"  
"I know it would never happen, but maybe it would have been nice if she were to be buried next to Yondaime's tomb," Shizune commented.  
"Perhaps," Ranma said, "But it shouldn't really matter. She and Yondaime will meet up in Heaven so where they were buried is moot,"  
"I guess you have a point," Shizune said.  
The two of them glanced in the direction of Sasuke and watched him for a moment as he continued to bury his brother.  
"You think he will be alright?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, he will be okay,"

Sasuke, Shizune, and Ranma appeared back at Sasuke's hospital room via nanban mirror. Since there was no one in the room, the bright light from their appearance didn't startle anyone.  
"What a strange way of travel," Sasuke commented as he squinted and awaited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "It's very convenient. Strangely enough, now that I think of it, it probably would have been convenient to use the nanban mirror to bring everyone back to Hidden Leaf Village's hospital,"  
Shizune said, "Not really. All hospitals are the same. Everyone is in good hands here every bit as much as they would be back home,"  
"Ah," Ranma said. He then turned toward Sasuke, "Well, now that everything is done and over with, it's best you get back into bed and get some rest. You should've stayed in bed the whole time but I figure having you bury your brother shouldn't do you any harm,"  
"Okay," Sasuke said as he walked over to the bed and climbed in.  
Ranma noted that Sasuke seemed to be more mellow, a lot easier to deal with, as if the young boy had finally been able to release all those pent up emotions within him all those years.  
Ranma started heading for the door, "Well, have a good rest. I'm gonna go check on the others," "Rest easily," Shizune added as the two of them left Sasuke's hospital room. "I think your decision in having Sasuke say goodbye to Itachi was very good," Shizune commented, "It looks as if a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders,"  
Ranma said, "Something like that would do him wonders. Sometimes, people need to let go. Now that Sasuke knows of what happened and had accepted it, he is able to finally let go of his past and move on,"  
"I wonder how he will be able to cope with society now that this goal of his to kill his brother is no longer there," Shizune said.  
"He will do fine," Ranma said, "He'll probably need a few nights to cry himself to sleep, but he will be fine,"  
"I hope so," Shizune said in genuine concern.  
Ranma and Shizune walked down the hallway where they arrived at the door leading to the room where Shikamaru, Lee, Neji, and Naruto were resting. The opened the door and entered. Inside, they found all four boys wide awake and sitting upright in their beds talking to one another. There was a young medical ninja in there trying to keep the boys from climbing out of their beds.  
"I'm telling you," the woman was saying, "You're at a hospital. You were brought here by two people named Shizune and Ranma,"  
"If that's the case, where are they?" Neji asked, wondering if all of this was some form of Genjutsu he was experiencing.  
"I'm not too sure, they both disappeared in a bright flash of light a short while ago," the woman answered, "But they should be back. The person named Ranma said they would be back shortly,"  
"We're back," Ranma called out from behind the young woman.  
"Ranma! Shizune!" all four boys said in unison.  
"Thank goodness you guys are back," the young woman said, "You must tell them to remain in their beds and that they need their rest,"  
"You heard the woman," Ranma said in a rather authoritative voice toward the boys, "No need to get all anxious and such. You guys are at a hospital,"  
"How do any of us know this is real and not some form of Genjutsu?" Neji was cautious.  
Ranma burst out laughing, "Fine, if you think this is an illusion, go break your finger. The pain should bring you out of the illusion, right?"  
All four boys seemed to realize that this was indeed not an illusion. Ranma had certain mannerisms that all four boys had gotten used to.  
"Why are we in a hospital?" Naruto asked.  
"Because, the battle is over," Ranma said, "Everything has been taken care of,"  
"How long were we out?" Shikamaru asked, rubbing his head.  
"A couple of hours," Ranma answered.  
"What happened to the Akatsuki and such?" Naruto asked.  
"They're all dead," Ranma answered.  
"You finished them all off?" Lee asked, figuring he should not be surprised that someone as powerful as Ranma would be able to accomplish such a seemingly impossible task.  
Ranma shook his head, "Not entirely. They basically finished themselves off. Shortly after you guys were knocked out, things took a turn for the worse but we managed to survive to the end,"  
"What happened?" Shikamaru asked.  
Ranma proceeded to explain all that had happened as the young boys listened intently. They asked him a slew of questions, all of them Ranma managing to answer them to the best of his abilities. When Ranma started talking about the fight between the Nine-Tails and the Five-Tails, the boys seemed to have trouble grasping everything Ranma was telling them. Ranma only had one comment about his explanations.  
"I know, it's a lot to take in,"

Ranma cast Shizune a glance.  
He and Shizune and Ton-Ton were all in the waiting room. It was now nearing dawn and Shizune was fast asleep. She had been through a lot so it was understandable that she was in dire need of some rest.  
Ranma had suggested to Shizune that they both make like Ton-Ton and get some sleep in the in the waiting room. Shizune seemed to welcome that suggestion. The waiting room was some generic waiting room full of chairs. Ranma picked up a few chairs and placed them together in a fashion so it formed a makeshift bed for him and Shizune.  
Shizune seemed to fall into a deep slumber the moment she closed her eyes after lying down. Ranma pretended to go to sleep as well, closing his eyes. After around twenty minutes, he got back up and looked at Shizune, satisfied that she had gone to sleep.  
He got up and exited the waiting room, approaching a young woman sitting behind a counter. "May I have a pen and some paper please?" he requested. The woman smiled at him and did as he asked. He proceeded to write on the paper.  
'I've gone back home to my world. We all knew that this day would come. If we never see each other again, I'm glad to have met you and everyone else.'  
Keeping the message short and simple, Ranma then went back into the waiting room where he noticed Ton-Ton was now awake. This bothered him slightly because he was never good at saying goodbyes.  
Ton-Ton snorted.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I'm leaving. It's time I go back to my world,"  
Ton-Ton snorted again.  
"Actually, that's the reason why I was trying to leave without saying goodbye," Ranma smirked, "I don't want to go through the process of individually declining everyone's request for me to bring them back to my world,"  
Ton-Ton seemed crestfallen.  
"I have no problems with you coming along and all, but it's best that you remain on this world like everyone else," Ranma stated, "I come from a world completely unlike your own," He knelt down and gave Ton-Ton a few pats on the back, "I'm glad to have known you. You've actually been a big help to me and everyone else,"  
Ton-Ton smiled happily.  
"Please, give this note to Shizune when she wakes up," Ranma placed the note on the floor in front of Ton-Ton. He then got back to his feet, "Well, I'm sorry, but this is where we say goodbye,"  
Ton-Ton watched as Ranma reached into his pocket and produced the nanban mirror.  
"Take care," Ranma said in a sad voice, "Perhaps we will see each other again,"  
With that said, Ranma disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.

new stuff 7/2

Back on Ranma's world, a group of people were engaging in conversation in Ranma's backyard around the koi pond. Little did Ranma know that members of the X-Men, people he had befriend on a previous adventure on a different world with Asuka, had coincidentally paid his world a visit that same night. After a brief moment of introductions, they had decided to head into the house to talk some more. It was at that time, that Ranma seemed to have made his appearance.  
Everyone had begun heading for the house but didn't get far before something distracted them.  
A portal suddenly opened up right over the group, causing everyone to stop and look up curiously at what was going on.  
"What the?" everyone seemed to say, looking straight up at the portal.  
The portal disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving behind the shadowy silhouette of a lone figure. Gravity instantly took effect as that figure fell down toward the ground, twisting in the air skillfully and landing right by the koi pond.  
Everyone regarded the figure. It only took a second for everyone to recognize who it was. Only one person wore a red Chinese shirt and black sweat pants and had a hair-style done up in a pig-tail.  
"Ranma, you're back" Akane said in disbelief "I'm finally back," Ranma smiled happily, "God, it's really good to be home. Man, what an adventure I had trying to get back home. You wouldn't believe where I've spent the past few months of my life-"  
Ranma was interrupted as Asuka slammed into him, burying her head into her chest, hugging him as if she was scared that letting go would mean he would disappear once again. The week he was gone actually felt like an eternity and made her wonder how she managed to get by a whole year without him like last time.  
"Ranma, y-you're finally back," Asuka began sobbing uncontrollably. She had missed him dearly, especially after what happened at the end of their stay on the X-Men's world.  
Ranma gave a warm smile as he wrapped his arms around Asuka, "Yeah, I'm back,"  
He glanced past Asuka's shoulders where he saw Rogue and Psylocke.  
"Well, I'll be," Ranma grinned, "What brings you here to this world?"  
"We were just visiting," Rogue tried to act nonchalant. "Urd said that you no longer have any powers," Akane said, "Is that true?"  
Still holding Asuka, Ranma said, "It's true. No more powers. No more AT Field, no more wings, no more nothing. I'm what I used to be, one hundred percent human,"  
After a moment, Asuka broke her embrace and looked longingly up toward Ranma. To everyone's surprised, she stood on her toes and brought her lips up to kiss Ranma.  
Everyone gasped.  
"Hey, what gives?" Psylocke said softly to Rogue, "I thought Ranma was only her guardian. That sure don't like a kiss some girl would give her guardian,"  
Ranma's eyes widened in shock as he realized Asuka was kissing him. It seemed like Asuka really missed him. He ended up flailing his arms in surprise and stepping backwards, tripping over the rocks surrounding the koi pond, falling down into the pond, Asuka along with him.  
"Whatcha do that for?" Asuka, soaking wet, got to her feet, angry.  
"Me?" Ranma pointed to himself, "Why're y'getting angry at me?"  
Asuka stomped Ranma in the chest, sending him back down where he ended up getting submerged for a second, before she turned around and stormed away and into the house.  
"Argh! Chicks! You can't live with them! Period!" Ranma shouted up toward the sky, getting up in frustration in the pond. He was about to make a comment about how he should perhaps go back to Naruto's world because the women there didn't seem to be so quick to anger.  
"What did you say?" Psylocke felt offended at the commented.  
"Ah resent that," Rogue narrowed her eyes toward Ranma.  
Everyone glared at Ranma, some jealous of what Asuka had done, some angry at him for that sexist comment. He had been on this world for not one minute and he seemed to have already pissed off all the females there.  
Ranma pinched the bridge of his nose, "Y'gotta be kidding me,"  
"Look, let's get angry at Ranma later," Akane suggested, "There's plenty of time for that,"  
"What, you're gonna save your animosity toward me for a rainy day or something?" Ranma asked.  
"C'mon, let's all head into the house and discuss what's going on," Akane said, "There are a lot of things we all need to talk about,"  
Ranma shrugged, "I guess you have a point,"  
Together everyone headed for the house, eager to hear about where Ranma had been and how he got home.  
"So tell us, where have you been?" Akane asked, "You said you had spent a few months on some different world before you came here. What world did you end up visiting this time around?"  
Ranma smiled warmly, "Are you sure you guys wanna hear it? It's a long story," "We've got time. And we're used to long stories," everyone seemed to say.  
Ranma laughed, "Okay, let's head in then. You won't believe what you're going to hear,"  
Together, everyone headed into the house, eager to hear what story Ranma would be telling them, eager to hear what adventure he had been on. Ranma had been accidentally sent to some other world instead of to this world like he was supposed to and everyone was eager to know what world he had been on before finally finding his way back home.  
"So tell us, where have you been before coming back home?" Akane asked curiously.  
"Well, where should I begin?" Ranma asked, recalling that before he ended up in Naruto's world, he spent a good amount of time reliving his past, cursed and all.  
"Start from the beginning," Akane answered.  
Ranma sighed as he prepared himself to tell a very long story.  
"Okay, well, it all began when..."

On no particular day a week after Ranma had gotten back to his world, Ranma found himself very bored as he sat on the back porch, throwing pieces of bread toward the pond for the fish to feed.  
No one was around that morning, having gone out to tour Japan with the X-Men members that had decided to visit. They should be back soon. They were expected to leave later that week, them having planned to only stay for a week.  
Ranma was bored and contemplating what to do for his next adventure.  
"I wonder what world or timeline I should go to next," Ranma asked himself, "Maybe I should visit ancient Japan. Who can I visit that lived during ancient times? What was that guy's name? Kenshin Himura? Hm, I wonder what kinda adventure I would have if I visited his world?"  
As Ranma continued to talk to himself, a bright light appeared over the koi pond.  
"What the?" Ranma said, shielding his eyes from the brilliant light. As he shielded his eyes, he heard a loud splash coming from the direction of the koi pond.  
When the light disappeared, he found two figures sitting in the middle of the koi pond, both of them soaking wet. It only took Ranma a moment to recognize those two individuals, Naruto and Shizune.  
He glance behind the two of them and noticed Ton-Ton by the edge of the koi pond. It seemed like the pig somehow managed to avoid landing in the water where Shizune and Naruto did not.  
"Naruto? Shizune? Ton-Ton?" Ranma couldn t believe what he was seeing, "What the Hell are you two doing here?"  
He looked at one of Naruto's hands where he saw the nanban mirror. Ranma quickly put the pieces together on how the three of them found a way to his world. Shortly after Ranma had gotten back home, he had used the other nanban mirror, the nanban mirror that Ryoga usually carried, to return the one that originally belonged to Naruto's world.  
It seemed like Naruto had used the nanban mirror Ranma had returned back to Naruto's world to visit Ranma's world.  
"Ranma?" Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized Ranma, "Is that really you?"  
"Yeah," Ranma answered, "Jeez, why are you guys here?"  
"Oh my God! It worked!" Naruto shouted in glee.  
"Why are you guys here?" Ranma asked curiously.  
"We wanted to visit you," Shizune answered with a warm smile, "What, is that so wrong?" Ranma thought about it for a moment, "Um, I dunno. You tell me. I see you have the nanban mirror. Considering your world views the nanban mirror as an ancient relic, aren't you doing something really bad by taking it and using it to visit me?"  
"I really wanted to visit you though," Naruto said, "I'll worry about that when I get back,"  
Ranma burst out laughing, finding it hilarious how Naruto is like him. It seemed like the young boy had hung out with Ranma far too long that some of Ranma's bad habits had rubbed off on him.  
Ton-Ton happily squeaked toward Ranma.  
"Nice to see you too, Ton-Ton," Ranma smiled warmly.  
"Did we show up at a bad time?" Naruto asked.  
"Not at all," Ranma said, getting up to his feet and gesturing toward his house, "Please, come on in, I'll show you around,"  
Shizune looked amazed, "Ranma, is this your house?"  
"Yeah," Ranma answered.  
"It's such a very big house," Naruto commented, "You must be rich,"  
Ranma shook his head, "Not really, but I can definitely live comfortably and support whoever lives under my roof comfortably as well,"  
"What do you do?" Naruto asked, surprised he never found out in the first place.  
"I used to be a sensei," Ranma said, "But I passed my dojo over to Shinji. You'll meet him soon enough,"  
"You have a dojo? Can you show us?" Naruto was eager to see. He wondered if the dojos on this world were similar to the dojo on his world. From what he saw, Ranma's world didn't seem all that differently than his own. Then again, all he saw was the backyard so far.  
"Sure, follow me," Ranma said.  
Shizune and Naruto followed Ranma as he walked around the corner of the house and toward the dojo. Ton-Ton stayed behind, sniffing at the ground. It seemed like Ranma's backyard was full of delicious vegetation and Ton-Ton wanted to enjoy a hearty meal.  
Inside Ranma's dojo, Naruto didn't seem all that impressed.  
"This dojo looks like any other dojo," Naruto said, "Didn't you say your world was technologically superior to our own?"  
Ranma laughed, "It is. It's just that my house and dojo are not like the rest of the world. It's an old traditional style Japanese house. I'm kind of old fashion,"

new stuff 10/29

"I like it," Naruto gave a thumbs up.  
"Gee, I'm glad I have your approval," Ranma chuckled.  
"So this is where you teach martial arts?" Naruto asked, recalling Ranma having stated that he was a sensei back in his own world.  
Ranma shook his head, "Not anymore, I'm basically retired,"  
Shizune and Naruto regarded Ranma for a moment.  
"Retired? Aren't you a bit young to be retired?" Shizune asked curiously.  
Ranma said, "For your information, not at all. I may look like a teenager, but I'm close to three times older than you two combined. I just haven't gotten around to asking Urd or Skuld to return me to my older body,"  
"Urd? Skuld?" Shizune asked.  
"Two people you'll meet," Ranma waved a dismissive hand.  
"So, now that you're retired, what is this dojo used for?" Naruto asked, noticing that the dojo was clean and well-kept, no boxes lying around to indicate that it was being used for a storage facility, "It'd be a shame if you don't use it for training or such,"  
Ranma smiled, "Oh, it's used every day. Shinji took over the dojo. He's not home right now. He's out jogging and should be home pretty soon,"  
"Others live here?" Shizune asked.  
"Yeah, several people live here," Ranma answered, beginning to list of the residents, "Let's see, there's Asuka, Rei, Shinji, Asuka-chan, Akane, Ryoga. A couple days ago, Misato-chan and Ritsuko-chan lived with us but they moved out into their own apartments,"  
"Ryoga? Hey, is this that same Ryoga guy you mentioned that is really strong?" Naruto was eager to meet him.  
"Yeah, it's the same one," Ranma nodded, "Even though he does live here, he's always away, usually on some crazy adventure like I usually am. He's not home much. He was around the house earlier this week but disappeared shortly afterwards,"  
Naruto looked anxious, "Wow, I hope he comes back. I'd love to see you and him spar. I don't think anyone could equal you in fighting,"  
Ranma scratched the back of his head, "Um, sorry to disappoint you, but Ryoga would kick my ass at this point in time. The fact that I'm handicapped and in the body of a teenager, it means I stand no chance against Ryoga,"  
"Handicapped?" Shizune said, "Why would you consider yourself handicapped?"  
"Because I am," Ranma said, "What you're see is me in my body when I was a teenager, and not as an adult. Because of the body I'm in, I'm severely limited in not only my strength, but my speed as well,"  
"Surely there can't be that huge a gap," Naruto was unconvinced. The young boy really looked up to Ranma and didn't want to believe that anyone could possibly rival Ranma.  
Ranma laughed, "If Ryoga and I sparred, I'd be knocked out within seconds, that's only because the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu Revised would catch him off guard and buy me a few extra seconds of breathing room before he just mow right through the clone and knock me out,"  
"I never knew there was such a gap between you and your rival," Shizune commented. Ranma shrugged, "What do you expect? My rival is about as fast as I am, and a helluva lot stronger. He's also about as skilled as I am as well,"  
"So how are you able to beat him?" Naruto asked, "You said that you spar against Ryoga all the time and have beaten him,"  
"Yeah, fifty percent of the time," Ranma said in embarrassment, "That's only because Ryoga does get a bit hot-headed while we fight and I can sometimes turn that into my advantage,"  
"What happens if he learns to keep a cool head while fighting then?" Shizune asked.  
"Who knows?" Ranma shrugged, already knowing the answer, that he would lose every fight from there on if Ryoga fought with a cool head. When he was younger, Ranma would never admit that he would lose to someone. However, as he got older and wiser, Ranma knew that the gap between him and Ryoga had closed over the years, so much so that there was now a small gap forming as Ryoga was now taking the lead.  
"Wow, you and this Ryoga person remind me of the rivalry between Kakashi-  
sensei and Gai-sensei," Naruto stated, "Gai-sensei has beaten Kakashi-sensei fifty-one times and lost to him fifty times. Still, I don't understand how Gai-  
sensei could beat someone like Kakashi-sensei more times, even if it's just by one fight,"  
Ranma smirked, "Well, don't you look up to Kakashi-sensei? Just because you look up to someone, that doesn't mean that they will always win. It could mean that Gai is slightly better than Kakashi, even though you don't want to admit it,"  
"Back to the subject of you being in a teenager's body," Shizune jumped in, "How do you think things would have turned out had you been in your own, um, adult body, when you ended up on our world?" Shizune asked.  
"Oh, it would've turned out much more differently," Ranma said softly, looking up toward the sky as if silently blaming himself, "No one would've died while I was around,"  
"Oh," Shizune and Naruto said in unison.  
"In essence, thing would have gone down a completely different path," Ranma said, "If I showed up on your world with my adult body, your world probably would've banded together to kill me. It would not be unlikely to see Orochimaru and Tsunade and even the Akatsuki working along side one another to take me down,"  
"What?" Shizune and Naruto shouted.  
"The power levels would have been so out of synch with your world's power levels that everyone would have viewed me as a potential threat to that world and would've banded together to kill me, simply out of fear that I may one day decide to try and take over that world," Ranma shrugged, "You world probably would have tried to attack and kill me preemptively out of fear because I get stronger every day, and they don't want to deal with me sometime down the road had I decide to stir things up, if y'know what I mean,"  
"But you wouldn't try and take over our world," Naruto said, "You're not that kind of person,"  
"Of course not," Ranma said, "But that doesn't mean people wouldn't fear me. Y'know how it is. People fear the unknown. The power gap would've been so vast that people would most likely not believe I'm a human capable of getting that strong and would probably consider me some kind of demon, like a human Nine-  
Tails. Think about it, what do you think would happen to you, Naruto, if the world suddenly thought you are Nine-Tails in human form? And I'm not talking about you having Nine-Tails sealed within you, but more along the lines of people thinking you actually are Nine-Tails,"  
Naruto was silent for a moment, "Well, it would be really bad. But it doesn't matter any more since it's no longer an issue,"  
"Oh?" Ranma asked.  
"I forgot to mention," Shizune said, "The Nine-Tails is no longer a part of Naruto,"  
"Really?" Ranma didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.  
"Yeah, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, afterall," Naruto said, "It seems like after Nine-Tails was killed along with the Five-Tails, I lost all the powers that came with having the Nine-Tails sealed within me. I lost a lot of special powers that night,"  
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Ranma said softly.  
Naruto smiled, "There's nothing to be sorry about. What's done is done. It's weird not being able to rely on those powers anymore. However, I have your training to rely upon,"  
"In a sense, because you showed up on our world," Shizune said, "Naruto basically traded in the powers of the Nine-Tails for the training you have given him. In the end, it all worked out for the better,"  
Naruto grinned happily, "I'm actually stronger now than when I had the Nine-  
Tails. So, if anything, I should be thanking you for helping me lose the Nine-  
Tails,"  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a moment. There was definitely an aura to Naruto now that didn't exist before. It was as if the realization that he could no longer rely on the sealed powers of the Nine-Tails as a last ditch effort made young Naruto train harder and to compensate for it. Because he trained himself like Ranma had trained him, Naruto more than made up for it, his power and skill skyrocketing in the process.  
"Well, I'm glad things turned out for the better," Ranma smiled warmly.  
"Why don't you guys spar?" Shizune suggested, "We are in a dojo afterall. What better place to see how far Naruto has come along than here?"  
Ranma turned toward Naruto, "Hm, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. You up for it?"  
"Really?" Naruto looked excited.  
Ranma narrowed an eye at Naruto, a bit cautious.  
How much has Naruto come along since we last saw each other, Ranma thought. For Naruto to be eager to spar against me, he must be really confident of the progress he had made in his training. Should I even spar him? It would be a shame if I beat him badly and he loses that confidence. It might put him in a slump with his training if that happens. But then again, maybe that confidence might make him believe he could take on anyone and can actually get him in trouble. I guess the best thing to do is help him out by fighting him. The risk of him ending up in a slump and getting depressed if he loses to me far outweighs the risk that me may one day get himself killed from being overconfident of his abilities.  
Ranma smiled.  
"Okay, I'll spar you," Ranma and Naruto faced one another, Naruto in a battle stance, Ranma just standing casually.  
The air within the dojo felt heavy with battle aura as Shizune sat off in the corner, both worried for Naruto's welfare but excited at what was to come. Seeing Ranma fight was like seeing a well choreographed dance, Ranma's movements very graceful.  
"Let's see how far you've come along," Ranma gestured for Naruto to attack, "Come at me with everything you've got,"  
"Why don't you come at me instead?" Naruto smiled happily, his facial features showing no signs of nervousness.  
"Okay, while I prefer to be the on the defensive and hang back and wait for an opening to counter attack, I guess I could go on the offensive for a change," Ranma said.  
Ranma made an ostentatious charged straight toward Naruto. However, right before he reached Naruto, he then jumped straight up, catching Naruto by the legs as the young boy tried to jump over him.  
"C'mon, everyone tries to jump over a charging opponent," Ranma chuckled, holding Naruto by both ankles upside-down, looking down into Naruto's surprised face as the young boy stared up at him.  
"I was hoping you would do that," Naruto grinned, bringing a hand forward and point in toward Ranma's chest, "I wanted you to grab me,"  
"Mouko Takabisha!" Naruto shouted as a ki-blast shot from is extended hand.  
Without batting an eye, Ranma released one hand from Naruto's ankle and deflected the ki-blast right back at Naruto. Even from such close proximity, Ranma had no problems deflecting a ki-blast since it was a reflexive action.  
The deflected ki-blast slammed into Naruto's chest and exploded, engulfing both him and Ranma in the process in a fiery explosion. A short distance away, Shizune gasped in surprise, "Naruto,"  
When the smoke from the explosion cleared away, it revealed the winner, Ranma.  
Ranma was holding an unconscious Naruto upside-down by one of his legs. Both he and Naruto had singed clothes. There was a large black ring surrounding the two of them, a sign on the floor of the dojo indicating how large the explosion was that engulfed the two of them.  
Ranma placed Naruto down on the ground gentle, "Hm, not bad. That ki-blast kinda stung,"  
"Are you all right?" Shizune rushed toward Ranma and Naruto, surprised at how quickly the sparring session had ended in Ranma's favor.  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "I'm fine. Sometimes, I wish my clothes don't get burnt up in an explosion though,"  
"Is Naruto okay?" Shizune knelt down by the young boy, checking his pulse.  
"He's fine," Ranma said.  
"I can't believe it, the fight ended as quickly as it started," Shizune said.  
"I wanted it that way," Ranma said, "What, you think I would try and prolong a fight, knowing full well that the dojo will be destroyed in the process if that happens?"  
"Did I see that correctly, did you let yourself fall into Naruto's trick?" Shizune asked, "It looked like you were expecting Naruto to shoot that ki-blast at you,"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I had a funny feeling he was trying to set me up by jumping over me like that. I'm pretty sure he was expecting me to get caught off guard with that ki-blast of his that he never bothered to even consider the thought that I would deflect it back at him, let alone get away from the explosion should I get caught by it,"  
"What do you mean?" Shizune asked.  
"Even if the ki-blast did hit me, he would've gotten knocked out from the explosion in the process because of his proximity to the explosion," Ranma said.  
"Yes, but might it have knocked you out?" Shizune said.  
"Nah," Ranma said, "It's not strong enough. I'm glad he now knows how to shoot a ki-blast with ease, but he still needs to work on its power,"  
Shizune said, "I've seen Naruto shoot ki-blasts before. I've seen him shooting it at trees when he was practicing getting it to come out instantly and almost destroying a tree in a single blast,"  
"Oh, that's pretty good," Ranma was impressed, "Wow, for him to be able to do that, he's come a long way since I last saw him. How many blasts does it take him before he can knock over the tree?"  
"About three," Shizune answered.  
"Three ki-blasts to destroy a tree, huh? That's pretty good," Ranma said, impressed, "Unfortunately, a blast like that only mildly stings if it hits me. If I'm braced for an attack, he'll need a blast that can probably wipe out a good portion of a forest to knock me out,"  
"Oh," Shizune said, "Forgive me for saying this, but you're a monster,"  
"I guess I am," Ranma chuckled, scratching the back of his head.  
"Ugh," Naruto groaned.  
Ranma looked at the clock that hung on the wall near the dojo entrance, "Hm, not bad, you were only out for a little under one minute,"  
"Is it over?" Naruto found himself looking up toward the dojo ceiling. He rubbed his chest as he slowly sat upright, groaning in pain in the process.  
"Yep," Ranma said, "It's over. You put up a good fight though,"  
"What the heck happened?" Naruto said curiously, "I was so sure I got you with that ki-blast,"  
"Nah, I deflected it back at you," Ranma said.  
"How, it was at point blank range," Naruto said.  
"Because its just as easy for me to do it at point blank as it is for me to deflect it from someone shooting a ki-blast from a mile away," Ranma said, "I saw you raise your arm toward me and that was more than enough time for me to realize what you were gonna do and react accordingly,"  
Naruto rubbed his aching head, "Damn, and here I thought it would've worked,"  
"You almost got me though," Ranma didn't bother to mention that even if the ki-blast did strike him, he would've been left relatively unscathed while Naruto would have been knocked out in the process. Not only was it hard to hit Ranma, it was nearly impossible to hit Ranma with something powerful enough to knock him out, "I liked how you lured me into your trap. Jumping over me like that, knowing you were gonna get caught, put you in a good spot to shoot a ki-blast at me,"  
"Too bad it didn't help," Naruto muttered, feeling dejected.  
"It was a nice try though," Ranma rubbed the top of Naruto's head.  
"I guess I better train some more," Naruto said, getting back to his feet and dusting his clothes, "It seems I've got a long way to go,"  
Ranma regarded Naruto for a moment, a bit surprised. Even though Naruto lacked fighting experience simply because he was still a very young boy, he had an incredible resilience that he seemed to be unaware of. Ranma smiled.  
"All right, now that we are done with here, let's do something else,"

Shizune took in her surroundings, surprised at how different Ranma's home was from the rest of the world.  
Ranma's home resided deep within a residential area of MegaTokyo. MegaTokyo was a technologically advanced city, yet Ranma's home possessed no indications of such technology, not even conveniences such as automatic doors and windows. Little did Shizune know that Ranma was an old-fashioned person by that world's standards, preferring to live in a house that reminded him of when he was young.  
Even though Ranma preferred living in an old-fashioned house, there were some more modern aspects to the home that was not a part of the home he used to live in back when he was young, like the fact that it had a garage and a basement. As Shizune walked across the backyard, she came across the garage, a small attachment to the dojo. She had no real idea what it was but noticed a paved driveway leading from the front of the garage and around the side of the house to the front.  
There were tiny windows in the front of the garage door and her curiosity made her look in.  
Looking into the garage, she saw the silhouette of Asuka's car, a convertible she had fancied a few weeks ago and had been seen gazing at admiringly through the window of a car dealership. Actually, the car wasn't necessarily Asuka's since it belonged to Ranma, but since Ranma never drove and preferred to walk, everyone considered it Asuka's car instead.  
"What a strange contraption?" Shizune said to herself, "Waitaminute, could that possibly be-"  
"Whatcha up to?" came Naruto's voice as the young boy could be seen emerging from the house.  
"Hey, Naruto," Shizune smirked, "What happened? You gave up when you realized you couldn't beat Ranma?"  
"Hmph!" Naruto muttered.  
Shinji liked playing video games and had left his game console system plugged into the livingroom television. When Ranma was showing Naruto parts of the house and Ranma had noticed the game console out, the tour of the house was suddenly cut short as Ranma simply sat down and proceeded to play whatever fighting games was loaded in the console. Naruto, fascinated with the game, picked up the second controller and tried to play against Ranma.  
Ranma's skill in fighting games seemed ungodly. This wasn't because of skill or in-depth knowledge of playing a particular genre of video games. It was because his reflexes were lightning fast that as soon as he recognized the frames of animations of a particular move, he knew how to make his character block and counter attack. "I think Ranma was cheating or something," Naruto complained, "I couldn't even touch him,"  
Naruto stood on his tip-toes and peeked into the garage through the same small windows he had seen Shizune peering through.  
"So, whatcha checking out?" Naruto asked, noticing the silhouette of Asuka's car, "What the heck is that?"  
"I think that's what we would call a car on our world," Shizune stated, "It has some striking similarities to that of a car but I'm not too sure,"  
"A car?" Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "That's a car?"  
"I think so," Shizune said, not all that positive, "I've never actually seen a car before, but I've read about them and've seen pictures of one before,"  
"Wow! A car!" Naruto said in delight, "If that's really a car in there, then I can't believe Ranma owns a car!"  
"It might be possible," Shizune said, "Keep in mind Ranma's world is very much different from that of our own,"  
Naruto nodded, "I know, but still, a car...wow! I never figured I'd actually see one, let alone know see one up close and personal,"  
Cars were considered technological marvels on Naruto's world. In many instances, Naruto's world would be considered technologically primitive compared to Ranma's world. However, there are instances where Naruto's world seemed almost on par with Ranma's world in terms of technology. There are also instances where trying to figure out why one technology existed but another didn't exist would gave Ranma headaches to the point that he stopped trying to figure it out.  
"Whatcha guys looking at?" Ranma called out as he emerged from the house.  
"Ranma," Naruto asked hurriedly, "Do you own a car?"  
"A car? Yeah, why?" Ranma asked.  
"Wow! That's amazing! A car!" Naruto said in complete awe.  
Ranma paused for a moment, a bit confused. After a moment, he put the pieces together.  
"Oh, I forgot, you come from a primitive world," Ranma chuckled.  
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Shizune felt offended.  
Ranma said, "What, you don't think otherwise?"  
"Granted, your world is technologically advanced," Shizune said, "But to consider our world primitive when compared to this one seems downright insulting,"  
Ranma chuckled, "Wow, you really don't know how big of a difference there is in technology between our worlds, huh?"  
"Care to give a few examples?" Shizune asked.  
"Sure, I'll name one technology," Ranma said, "Guns,"  
"Guns?" Naruto and Shizune asked.  
"Ninjitsu is extremely versatile and deadly, but to become adept in the art of ninjitsu takes years and years of practice, sometimes even decades," Ranma said, "However, if someone possesses a gun, the person that has a gun can kill someone without any form of training whatsoever. All they need to do is point the gun toward someone and pull the trigger,"  
"Exactly what is this 'gun' that you speak of?" Naruto asked.  
"A gun is a projectile weapon," Ranma said.  
"Like a ki-blast?" Naruto asked.  
"No," Ranma said, "A ki-blast is basically the projectile. A gun is the instrument that shoots the projectile, just like your arm is the instrument that flings a shuriken toward a target,"  
"Ah," Naruto said, "I meant to say that,"  
"Think of how long you've been practicing throwing shuriken at a target," Ranma said to Naruto, "Now what would you think if I told there exists weapons on my world that is more accurate and deadly than a shuriken that is thrown by a Hokage?"  
"I'd think you were lying," Naruto said flatly.  
"Projectiles in your world are mostly human-powered," Ranma said, "They're thrown by the human arm. Granted, you have superior throwing arms than the people on my world, but that means there is an upper limit to have fast a projectile can go because of human strength,"  
"With the proper training, we can throw shurikens faster than the human eye can see," Shizune said, "In an instance like that, the human limitation of throwing speed is no longer an issue because it exceeds the human limit to detect the incoming projectile,"  
Ranma smiled, "That's a perfectly good argument. However, you need to understand that only with training, years and years, perhaps decades, of training could someone possibly reach such a level of development as to throw shurikens at that speed,"  
Shizune was quiet for a moment, "You do have a point there, but what does that have to do with technology of your world?"  
"Well, technology on my world bypasses the need for training," Ranma shrugged, "A gun basically makes you capable of 'throwing' a 'shuriken' faster and more accurate than anyone can possibly throw without the need to train. It's basically the end results of decades of training without having to undergo the training in the first place,"  
Shizune and Naruto said nothing.  
"Can you show us this 'gun'?" Shizune asked curiously, "I would very much like to see it and know more about it,"  
Ranma scratched the back of his head, "Actually, I really dunno if I should. If you actually see some of this world's technology in action, it can ruin you to the though of training and such on your world whenever you decide to head back,"  
"That'll never happen," Naruto said, "I'll never give up on my training,"  
Ranma burst out laughing, "Yeah right. Whatever you say. If you knew of how easy it is to shoot a gun, you'd never want to throw a shuriken ever again,"  
"Man, now I really want to see what a gun is," Naruto said eagerly.  
"Do yourself a favor and not," Ranma said seriously, "Training would seems downright pointless if you knew what a gun is,"  
"If that's the case, how come I sometimes see you doing katas and training as well?" Naruto asked, "If you know of such technology, then why do you do it?"  
"Because I train to be better than guns and such weapons," Ranma shrugged, "I train so it's hard to kill me not only on your world, but on my world,"  
"Ah," Naruto said. He turned his attention back onto the car, "Hey, is there anyway you can teach me how that car of yours work?"  
"You don't know how a car works?" Ranma asked.  
"I've never really seen a car before up close, let alone know how it works," Naruto said, "I've only heard about them and seen them on television back on our world,"  
Shizune added, "Cars are extremely rare on our world,"  
"You want me to teach you how to drive?" Ranma asked.  
"No way? Really?" Naruto said, eyes wide with surprised, "I hope you're not joking!"  
"We're back!" came a female voice from the front of the house, "Anyone home?"  
"We're in the backyard!" Ranma called out.  
"Who was that?" Shizune asked.  
"Akane," Ranma recognized her voice, "She went out with a few friends visiting to show them around town,"  
A minute later, Akane, Asuka, Asuka-chan, Psylocke, Jean, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops and Logan rounded the side of the house and to the backyard. Akane seemed surprised to see that Ranma's wasn't alone and that there were two new people.  
"Hello," Akane said, "I didn't know we had visitors,"  
"This is Naruto and Shizune," Ranma smiled, "They popped in to visit earlier today. I was just showing them around the house,"  
Everyone went about introducing one another. Ranma quickly explained to everyone who Shizune and Naruto were, also taking care to introduce Ton-Ton so that no one would be surprised to see the sudden appearance of a pig. He then explained to Shizune and Naruto the new arrivals that just showed up at the house.  
"So, what do you think of our world so far?" Akane asked curiously.  
"It's very nice," Shizune replied, "It's definitely technologically superior to our own world,"  
"You guys enjoy your tour?" Ranma asked Cyclops and the others.  
"Very much," Jean replied.  
"Didja go clothes shopping like most girls do and drag Cyclops and Logan along?" Ranma asked.  
Logan and Cyclops snickered by both pretended they were clearing their throat when they realized they noticed all the women angry at the sexist comment.  
"That's so sexist," Jean was offended.  
"Whatcha buy? Potpourri? Scented candles?" Ranma asked, "Or perhaps something you don't need but got it anyway because it was half priced?  
"Ranma!" Akane could be seen becoming visibly angry.  
Ranma, realizing that being hit with a mallet really hurts, held up his hands defensively, "I was just joking. Lighten up,"  
"Hmph. For your information, we all went out and had some lunch and then visited a couple sites before coming back," Asuka said, "Your sexist comment was completely off base,"  
"Whatcha guys eat? Salad?" Ranma asked.  
"That's none of your damn business," Asuka blushed red as Ranma's guess hit its mark.  
"Ranma, do you purposely put you foot in your mouth just to get a rise out of us?" Storm asked coldly, still angry at Ranma for the time he accidentally grabbed her chest when he was running away from Psylocke and Rogue not too long ago. Sure, she froze him in a block of ice, which made her feel much better, but when Ranma seemed completely unbothered at having been frozen after she melted the ice, it made her even more angry than when he supposedly groped her.  
"It is kind of funny hearing some of the things he says though I must say," Logan said with a grin.  
"Is there any way you can you show me how to drive now?" Naruto jumped in, figuring he should try and help Ranma out by dissipating the tension.  
"Sure," Ranma said, turning toward Naruto, "Gimme a sec while I find the car keys,"  
"You're going to teach Naruto how to drive in my car?" Asuka gasped.  
"Your car?" Ranma smirked, perked an eyebrow, "If I recall correctly, I died helping you get 'your' car so, at the very least, I feel I should at least have a right use it every here and there,"  
Asuka said nothing for a second, "Fine,"  
"Can you show me how to drive? I'd really like to learn as well," Shizune said.  
As if Ranma couldn't possibly put his foot any further in his mouth, he ended up making everyone realize he was more than capable of doing so.  
"Why bother to learn? You're a woman. Women can't drive,"

Ranma and Naruto found themselves somewhere on the busy streets of MegaTokyo. It was only around a half hour since Akane tried to beat the hell out of Ranma for the sexist comment about women and driving. Ranma had found himself dodging Akane's mallet swings before he decided it was best to get away from the house so she could cool down. When Ranma excused himself, Naruto followed after Ranma, eventually following Ranma into the middle of town.  
"You know a lot about girls, right?" Naruto asked Ranma from out of the blue.  
Ranma burst out laughing, "Me? You've gotta be kidding me if you think I know anything about girls. Did you not notice Akane trying to kill me a half hour ago? Do you think something like that would happen if I understood girls?"  
Naruto said nothing.  
Ranma stopped laughing, wiping some tears from his eyes, "Why do you ask? What makes you think I know anything about 'em?"  
"Well, um, I was wondering, how do you get them to, y'know, like you?" Naruto asked quietly.  
Ranma thought about it for a moment, "Hm, actually, if I think about it, I really don't know. I've never actually tried to make a girl like me before. I just act myself,"  
"Isn't that clich ?" Naruto asked.  
Ranma shook his head, "Not really. It's actually the truth. I act no differently around a girl than I do around anyone else,"  
"Really?" Naruto asked, finding it to be news, "I always thought you need to act differently around a girl than you would a boy,"  
Ranma said, "Why?"  
"Why what?" Naruto asked.  
"Why should I act differently around them?" Ranma asked, "Dontcha realize that it's best to act like yourself around anyone? If you act differently, then you're not you. If you're not being yourself, then you'd most likely not be happy. From my point of view, it's best to act yourself. That way, you're happy with yourself. Who cares what other people think, even if it's a girl you like. To me, the most important thing is to be happy with yourself. If you're happy, then people will realize you're happy and want to be around you more since a happy person tends to make other people happy, thus, a better chance of a girl liking you because you being happy somehow makes her happy,"  
"Hm, I never thought of it that way before," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Hey, maybe it would be a good idea to learn more about girl while I'm here since you're around to help,"  
"You can't really use this world as a way to learn about women," Ranma said, "The women on this world is different from the women of your world,"  
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.  
"The women are generally the aggressors, meaning they're the ones that chase after the guys instead of the other way around," Ranma said matter-of-factly.  
"Really?" Naruto was shocked to hear that statement.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "It's kinda annoying actually. Sometimes, a guy just wants to be left alone. It's kinda annoying when I'm, say, eating by myself at some restaurant and some girl tries to sit down next to me and hit on me,"  
Thoughts raced through Naruto's mind as he wondered how cool it would be to live in Ranma's world. "Sometimes, it's nice that women are the aggressors," Ranma shrugged, "For instance, if I'm ever hungry, I can pretend I'm looking for a place to eat and women would usually take that as a clue and ask me to dinner or out to lunch or whatever,"  
"Really?" Naruto asked, "I-I can't even begin to picture how something like that could work out. Are you saying that the roles on your world is reversed, that the women basically chase guys like the way guys are supposed to chase girls on my world?"  
Ranma nodded.  
"Incredible," Naruto said, "So what would that mean to someone from my world? If someone from my world, who is used to chasing after a girl, comes to this world, and goes chasing after girls like he figures he's supposed to-"  
"They'd probably respond to him like, say, the way a guy would respond to a woman if a woman suddenly chases after a guy on your world," Ranma finished for Naruto.  
"You're not pulling my leg, are you?" Naruto said, realizing that Ranma did have a tendency of joking around at inappropriate times.  
"What, you don't believe me?" Ranma asked as if he were being challenged.  
"I dunno, it's kinda hard to believe," Naruto said.  
Ranma got up off his seat and headed for the door, "Fine, I'll show you. Follow me,"  
Naruto quickly followed after Ranma, "Where are we going?"  
"I'll prove to you how women are the aggressors on this world," Ranma said, "I'll pretend I'm from your world and chase after a girl, and you'll see just how quickly a girl would respond positively to my switching roles and going after them instead,"  
"Man, I've gotta see this," Naruto said eagerly.  
"We'll head downtown where there are a lotta people," Ranma said, "I'll show you just how weird things will turn out when a guy tries to hit on a girl on my world since the roles are reversed on this world when compared to your world,"  
Ranma and Naruto exited the house where they walked down the street in the direction of town. Before long, they found themselves standing in front of a circular water fountain located in the center of town.  
"Just sit here by the water fountain and watch," Ranma said, "I'll just walk up to random girls and flirt with them. When you see just how many try to ask me out or such, you'll realize that the roles are reversed on my world. To make things seem even more incredible, I'll approach girls that most guys would consider unapproachable on your world,"  
Naruto sat down by the edge of the fountain, "Okay. I've got to see this,"  
Ranma stood around for a minute as people could be seen walking about, all of them on their way home from work. Before long, Ranma spotted a beautiful woman with medium-length blond hair and decided to approach her and say something stupid.  
"Ugh, hungry," he said from out of the blue.  
The blond woman stopped and regarded Ranma for a moment.  
"Ranma?" the woman asked.  
"Huh?" Ranma was surprised the woman somehow knew his name, "Do I know you?"  
"I'm Melinda," the blond said, "Don't you remember? We've met at the book store a while back,"  
It took a moment before Ranma realized that Melinda was the model he met at the bookstore a while back when he was there with Shinji during the time Shinji was training in boxing. Because she was a popular and very beautiful model, she was in a lot of magazines and she liked to buy whatever magazines that had her photos for prosperity.  
Ranma snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah, now I remember. I feel like a fool for not recognizing you right away," He reached out and brushed the woman's bangs toward the side, "It's probably because you've cut your hair," The woman smiled warmly, "Thanks. Did you know you're the first one to actually say that? I got my hair cut shorter about a week ago,"  
"Really?" Ranma scratched his head, "That seems strange," Melinda didn't comment for she knew the real reasons. She was indeed a beautiful woman that people viewed her as unapproachable so she rarely chit-chat with anyone, let alone some guy that had the courage to approach her and even realize she had cut her hair. Basically, while people were award of her change in appearance, the fact that no one ever really talked to her was why no one had ever commented about her haircut.  
"It looks nice," Ranma said, "I think I like your hair longer, but that's just me,"  
"Really? Do you really think so?" Melinda was surprised to hear. It was rather strange to hear because the only person that seemed comfortable enough to approach her in casual conversation seemed to have no problem actually making his opinions known, even if there was the chance that it might offend her.  
"Well, it was nice seeing you again," Ranma gave her a courteous nod, "Maybe we'll bump into each other again another day,"  
"Are you hungry?" Melinda asked after a short moment, surprised at what she was saying, "Would you like to get something to eat? There's a nice restaurant nearby that I've been meaning to try out and would love the company,"  
"Sorry," Ranma said, jerking a thumb in the direction of Naruto, "No can do. I'm kinda busy today showing a friend around town,"  
"Oh," Melinda said, "Okay, perhaps another day,"  
"Okay," Ranma said.  
"Take care," Melinda said, giving Ranma a very warm smile before walking off, eventually disappearing around a corner. He then turned toward Naruto, "Sorry, that encounter doesn't count. It turns out that I know her. I'll try and find someone that doesn't know me,"  
Naruto said nothing, seemingly already in a state of shock at the realization that the women on this world seemed to be the aggressor and the ones that chased after the men. It was as if Ranma displayed a small sign that he might be interested in that blond woman and the woman pounced at the chance to ask him out to dinner.  
"Anyway, you get the picture, women are the aggressors on this world," Ranma said, "Ryoga, on our world, the women are the aggressors, right?" "Ryoga?" Naruto turned around, wondering who Ranma was talking to.  
Naruto yelped in surprise when he saw Ryoga, a young looking man that had dark pants, a yellow shirt, and sported a black and yellow headband.  
"Whoa, where'd you come from?" Naruto said.  
"Don't worry about that," Ranma smirked at Naruto, "Ryoga does that. He appears in and out pretty suddenly. How he gets there, I have no idea,"  
Ryoga smirked at Ranma, "I notice you're still handicapped and in that teenager's body of yours,"  
"Yeah, lucky me, huh?" Ranma grinned, "Don't worry, I haven't gotten around to asking Urd or Skuld to return me to my old body,"  
"Hey, when you get your adult body back, I'll be more than happy to spar you," Ryoga taunted, "It's been a while since we last fought. I hope you aren't purposely remaining in that body of yours out of fear of fighting me,"  
"Yeah, whatever. Think what you want. Oh, I forgot to introduce you," Ranma said, gesturing toward the young boy next to him, "This is Naruto,"  
Ryoga regarded Naruto for a moment before he gave the young boy a curt nod, "How are you doing? I'm Ryoga,"  
"Um, nice to meetcha," Naruto said nervously. There was an aura to Ryoga that was frighteningly pervasive, as if the guy possessed unimaginable power waiting to be unleashed.  
Ryoga turned back to Ranma, "What didja ask me before?"  
"On this world, women are the aggressors, right?" Ranma asked again.  
Ryoga nodded, "Yes,"  
Ryoga was in the same boat as Ranma and constantly getting approached by women. For some odd reason, there was something about both Ranma and Ryoga that appealed to women greatly that resulted in women approaching them instead and sometimes flat-out asking them out on dates.  
Naruto asked, "How do you deal with it?"  
"I tell them I have eyes for one person and am not interested in dating them," Ryoga said flatly, sighing a bit as the image of Akane entered his mind.  
"He likes Akane," Ranma said to Naruto.  
Ryoga narrowed his eyes at Ranma, "Who I like is none of your business,"  
"Dontcha think you should look for someone else?" Ranma smirked, "You're so far in the friend zone with her that you should look into owning property there,"  
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ryoga sneered.  
Ranma shrugged, holding his hands behind his head in a non-threatening manner, "Nothing,"  
"Have you tried asking Akane out?" Naruto asked. He liked Akane. She was a nice woman and knew how to cook a delicious curry chicken meal. At first, he thought Akane was Ranma's live-in girl friend but then realized they're more along the lines of childhood friends that stayed close with one another but never explored the possibility of something beyond that of friendship.  
Ryoga blushed beet red, "No,"  
"He's scared to," Ranma chuckled, "He's scared to ask her out because he's scared he will hear the answer he doesn't want to hear,"  
Ryoga punched Ranma right in the stomach, hitting him hard enough that Ranma's feet left the ground. When Ranma's feet touched the ground, he feel down to his knees gasping for air.  
"Ranma!" Naruto was shocked at how he didn't even see Ryoga's attack speed.  
"Ugh, aren't we a bit testy today?" Ranma asked, panting for air, slowly getting back up to his feet. He cast Naruto a glance and felt a tinge of embarrassment at seeing Naruto's disappointment in his once-sensei being taken down so easily. "Already winded?" Ryoga smirked, "I just gave you a light punch. I didn't realize you're that out of shape to be on your knees from a blow like that,"  
Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "Whatever. Taunt me all you like. I'm sure it must feel good defeating me even though I'm severely handicapped. I'm sure you feel a great sense of accomplishment doing that,"  
"Why you!" Ryoga's clenched his fists.  
In a fit of anger, Ryoga grabbed Ranma by his neck, picking him up off the ground. Ryoga's speed shocked young Naruto because he never figured anyone could match Ranma's speed.  
Ranma smirked, "Y'gonna hit me again?"  
Ryoga looked like he was fighting himself to remain civil and not punch Ranma. Ryoga never believed in hitting someone weaker than him, especially someone astronomically weaker than him which is what Ranma is at the moment, but the fact that it was his rival Ranma and he loved hitting Ranma for the sake of hitting him was creating a conflict of character. Should he not hit Ranma because it was the right thing to do, or should he hit Ranma because it feels good?  
Ryoga slammed Ranma down in the ground really hard.  
"Oof," Ranma said as the wind was knocked out of him. The impact of his body hitting the ground was so hard that he became embedded in it.  
"I guess that answers your question, I did hit you again," Ryoga grinned, "The happy feeling I get hitting you outweighs the guilt I should feel hitting someone weaker than myself,"  
"You jerk!" Naruto tried to come to Ranma's defense, "Why'd you have to go and do something like that? You only beat him because Ranma's in that body of his. I'm sure he'd kick your ass if he was back in his original body,"  
Ryoga laughed, "Is that what you're telling Naruto, that you can beat me if we sparred while you're back in your original body?"  
Ranma was dusting himself off, "Yes, I was. If I was back in my original body, some of the tricks I've learned while I was on Naruto's world will definitely catch you off guard,"  
Ryoga smirked, "I'd like to see it,"  
"You're on,"

Ranma entered the house.  
"Welcome back," Shizune said, no longer angry at Ranma for his sexist comments. She had come to realize that was part of Ranma's character and that he would never really change and getting angry at him for it would be equivalent to getting angry at the sun for rising every morning.  
"Where is everyone?" Ranma asked as he entered the living room where he met up with Shizune as she emerged from the kitchen.  
"Everyone but Akane, Shinji and I went out," Shizune answered, "Shinji and Emiko are back from jogging and are in the dojo teaching class,"  
Shinji and Emiko usually jogged together. Emiko also helped Shinji would teaching his classes.  
"Shinji and Emiko I'm aware of," Ranma said, "I stopped by the dojo with Naruto just as Shinji was about to begin teaching class. Naruto stayed behind in the dojo to learn,"  
Shizune said, "Shinji seems a bit young to be a sensei, don't you think?"  
She had only met him briefly shortly after he had gotten back from his jogging. She noted that he looked to be somewhere around twenty, a rather young age to be a sensei.  
"Nah, he's fine," Ranma said, "I taught him myself. He's a good successor,"  
"Successor?" Shizune asked.  
"Yeah, Shinji's my successor," Ranma said, "He's going to carry on my school, The School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts,"  
"You must have great confidence in him," Shizune stated.  
"I bumped into Ryoga today," Ranma said for conversation's sake.  
"Ryoga? As in your rival, Ryoga?" Shizune recognized the name. She recalled Ranma speaking about him while he was on her world.  
Ranma hated to admit it but said, "He kinda kicked my ass, while Naruto was there to witness everything as well. I kinda feel bad because it must've been disappointing since it seems like he looks up to me and all,"  
"You and this Ryoga person fought?" Shizune asked.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "It made me realize I need to get my body back,"  
"You mean your adult body?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Y'do know that the person you're looking at is a younger, weaker, slower version of the body I'm supposed to be in,"  
"Does that mean you're supposed to look completely different?" Shizune asked.  
"Not entirely," Ranma said, "But in my adult body, I don't look like some young kid. I look like an adult,"  
Shizune regarded Ranma for a moment as he sat down on the couch, wondering how attractive he would look in his adult form. While she constantly told herself that Ranma was older than he looked, she was indeed weirded out at the thought of having some form of attraction toward Ranma when she realized he was a young man when she spent time with him, before she found out that he was older than he looked.  
"How much of a difference is there though?" Shizune asked.  
"There really isn't much of a difference actually," Ranma said, "In terms of outward appearance, I'll look almost the exact same, perhaps slightly taller and a bit more muscular. You might not even notice a difference. However, in terms of my abilities, it's a vast increase,"  
Shizune smiled warmly, "My, I'm curious as to how much of a change there is,"  
Ranma said, "I'm gonna get in contact with God or Urd and ask them to give me back my old body. Body swapping is child's play when you're God. Heck, as a former God, anything and everything is child's play,"  
Ranma nodded, "Yep,"  
"Speaking of God, does it ever bother you that there are Atheists that denounce the existence of God, that being you or better yet, what you used to be?" Shizune asked Ranma.  
Ranma, forgetting that he was about to contact Skuld or Urd to ask them to return him to his old body, thought about Shizune's comment for a moment before saying, "Not really. However, everyone in Heaven sure gets a good laugh when they die and show up in Heaven and suddenly realize that Heaven does exist,"  
"You don't harbor animosity?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma shook his head, "No. That's because no one really knows whether or not God exists and it's preferred that way. Funnily enough, the people that do know the truth about God don't even see God as God. Atheists don't really believe God exists. Religious fundamentalists believe God exists but their idea of who God is is so grossly misrepresented that they might as well be Atheists. Only a handful of people know the real God,"  
"But what do you mean by them not seeing God as God?" Shizune asked.  
At that point in time, Akane entered the room, "Hey, Ranma, there you are,"  
"Were you looking for me?" Ranma asked.  
"Go out and get some milk. We're out," Akane said.  
"Is that a request or a statement?" Ranma smirked, "It sure didn't sound like a request,"  
"Fine, then you go cook dinner for yourself," Akane snapped in reply before turning around and heading back into the kitchen.  
"I was just joking," Ranma said, "I'll go get it,"  
Ranma got up off the couch and chuckled, "See what I mean? I used to be God, but no one seems to ever recall that. To everyone that knows me, I'm just some guy. I'll explain some more along the way,"  
Shizune followed Ranma out of the house as the two of them headed toward a nearby surpermarket to pick up the milk Akane wanted. As they walked, Ranma continued talking.  
"It's funny that we are talking about God because there has been talks about creating Hell," Ranma said.  
"What?" Shizune asked.  
"Skuld, that's God's current name, is thinking about creating a place called Hell," Ranma said, "Because so many humans believe that Hell exists, she figured she should create a place like Hell,"  
Shizune said, "Wait, let me see if I get this straight. After you die, you automatically go to Heaven,"  
Ranma nodded.  
"But because humans so vehemently believe that Hell exists, God is going to create Hell for them?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma nodded, "That's basically the gist of it. It's actually really funny if you think about it. Skuld is creating Hell to cater to human belief that such a place exists. So in a sense, she's doing humans a favor by taking time off from her busy day to create a place that humans dreamed up,"  
"But she's creating Hell!" Shizune said, "If Hell doesn't exist, why should it exist now all of a sudden?"  
"Because Skuld kinda likes to think outside the box," Ranma used the clich , "She's also young so she wants to take a more active role as God. Let's just say she isn't burnt out playing that role yet. Think of it like that of a person that just got a new car. For a short while, that person would baby the car and constantly wash it and keep it looking spotless. After a short time, that person kinda stops caring and lets the car get dirty. The same would apply for the role of God. Skuld's gung-ho about the role at the moment,"  
Shizune tried to comprehend what she was hearing, "And you're doing nothing about it?"  
"What, I should do something about it?" Ranma asked, confused.  
"Can't you do something about it? Can't you stop Hell from being created?" Shizune asked.  
"Um, do you realize what you just asked me?" Ranma smirked, "You're basically asking me to stop God from doing something,"  
Shizune was silent.  
Ranma shrugged, "I'll talk to Skuld about it, but I don't think she'll change her mind,"  
"Do you realize the enormity of the situation?" Shizune said, "Under Skuld's watch, a place of eternal torment will be created where humans after they die will have to undergo such torment?"  
Ranma scratched his head, "I'm still confused. What's wrong with that? Humans believe in Hell, so what's wrong with Hell existing?"  
"That's not the point!" Shizune said loudly, "It doesn't exist now, right?"  
"No, it doesn t exist," Ranma said, "What about it?"  
"But it will exist before long, right?" she asked.  
Ranma nodded.  
"Don't you see the problem?" Shizune said, "Hell doesn't exist, but it soon will. Aren't you worried about something like that? Aren't you worried that if you die, you will no longer go to Heaven but will instead go to Hell?"  
"No," Ranma said, "Skuld doesn't have a good imagination. Hell probably wouldn't be that bad. It'd probably be more interesting than Heaven,"  
"Wait, are you telling me you would rather end up in Hell than Heaven?" Shizune asked, "Are we talking about the same Hell? You know, the fiery pit of eternal despair and torment Hell?"  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, that Hell. That one where people believe the Devil resides. I'm pretty sure we are on the right page,"  
"How can you not be worried about something like this?" Shizune was flabbergasted.  
Ranma said, "Because, there isn't really much I can do anyway, not that I would bother to do anything anyway even if I could. I think the existence of Hell would be interesting. Besides, this is God's choice. In case you don't realize it, God's Will is absolute,"  
"But-" Shizune said.  
"Even if that were the case, blame humans for its creation, not God," Ranma said, "They're the one that want to believe in such a place, so Skuld's going to make it realized for them. She's just being nice to them by making their belief realized,"  
"This is crazy," Shizune said, "What would that mean, that I might go to Hell if after I die instead of Heaven?" "Yeah," Ranma said.  
"I don't want to go to Hell though," Shizune said.  
"It's not like we would have any say in it though," Ranma shrugged, "Considering we were created by God, there's really nothing we could do. If God wanted to wipe out humanity from existence, there is nothing we can do,"  
"Still, from God's point of view, wouldn't it seem rather cruel to do something like that to one's own creation?" Shizune asked.  
"It's like this," Ranma said, "Imagine you make yourself a chair. You suddenly decide you don't want the chair anymore and want to get rid of it. What would you do with it?"  
"Get rid of it," Shizune answered.  
"Well, the same would apply for God," Ranma shrugged, "If God suddenly decides she doesn't want humans anymore, she's doesn't need to answer to anyone if she wants to get rid of them,"  
"But we are alive," Shizune said, "We are sentient beings. Chairs aren't,"  
"When you get rid of a chair, it never crosses your mind that the chair could be trying to convey a message across to you that it doesn't wanna be thrown away like trash," Ranma said, "The same would be for God,"  
"But we would be equivalent to the chair shouting 'Please, don't get rid of me'," Shizune countered.  
"Yeah, but would that statement matter if you were the person that made the chair say that?" Ranma smirked, "Okay, now imagine you made a chair and put a component on it so that it was say 'Please, don't throw me out' if the chair gets moved. Now, when you pick up the chair to throw it out and the component starts saying 'Please, don't throw me out' should that make you not throw it out because it's saying that?"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"God gave us the ability to try and voice our opinions," Ranma said, "From God's point of view, the ability given to us is nothing more than a component on a chair,"  
"This is really hard to take in," Shizune said.  
"It's kinda like Free Will," Ranma chuckled, "Humans think the greatest gift given to them is Free Will. Well, what makes you think God didn't make us think we have Free Will even though we don't have it?"  
"So do we have Free Will?" Shizune asked.  
"Nope," Ranma shrugged.  
Shizune raised her hand, "Okay, so what you're saying is that I'm raising my hand right now, this very instant, because it's written somewhere that I would do this?"  
Ranma said, "That's a bit iffy. I can't really give you exact answers for that. From what I'm told, it turns out that I'm a variable, so your interactions with me changes your fate or whatever is supposed to happen,"  
"What do you mean?" Shizune was confused.  
"Let's say it's God's design that you die," Ranma said, "And she wanted it where you commit suicide, which would lead you to believe you had Free Will and made the choice yourself to take your own life, even though it was all God's design,"  
"I still follow you," Shizune nodded.  
"Now, along comes me," Ranma said, "And I see you about to take your own life and I save you at the last minute. That in turn causes some kind of chain reaction which ripples through God's design. Because I just saved you, you being alive becomes a variable which will changes something else in the design. So in a sense, you then get Free Will,"  
"So what you're saying is that because I've come in contact with you, I am no longer destined to die, so to speak?" Shizune asked.  
"More or less," Ranma said, "The problem is that the ripples eventually subside and fate takes its course and you will eventually find yourself in the situation you were destined to be in sometime down the line, that being you ending up committing suicide,"  
"Wait, didn't you save most of your friend's lives?" Shizune asked, "If that's the case, wouldn't that mean they will eventually die if fate resumes its course?"  
Ranma smirked, "That's a pretty good question. The answer is, yes and no. They probably would die if they eventually lose contact with me. But because I'm constantly around, basically altering their fate, fate never resumes its course to take their lives,"  
Shizune said nothing.  
"Wait, how do you know you are some kind of variable and not part of a grand design of God?" Shizune asked, "How do you know that you weren't fated to save someone's life, all the while thinking that you had Free Will to do so when you actually don't, like all other humans?"  
Ranma rubbed his cheek, "Because I found out that I actually had Free Will the hard way,"  
"What happened?" she asked.  
"Um, I grabbed Skuld's chest," Ranma gave a sheepish grin, "One day, I was wondering that same thing you asked. I grabbed Skuld's chest to see if I actually had Free Will and it was my choice to grab them, or that I was destined to grab them. Skuld's reaction convinced me I had Free Will because, frankly, to let something like that happen to fool me into believing I had Free Will, that's a bit extreme. Basically, I was questioning if I actually had Free Will so I grabbed God's breasts. The reaction was more than enough to convince me that I that was not something God had planned to happen,"  
"Pervert," Shizune was angry at Ranma.  
"Yeah, that's what Skuld shouted before she slapped me half way across Heaven," Ranma rubbed his check, "And considering Heaven is infinitely large..."  
"Maybe that was supposed to happen though," Shizune asked.  
"Yeah, I sure, as God, I wanted someone to grab my breasts to fool that person into believing he had Free Will," Ranma shrugged, "Even if that's the case, I'm sure letting that person accidentally download a virus onto Yggdrasil is going a long ways to deceive him into thinking he had Free Will,"  
"Okay, I believe you," Shizune said, "I was merely curious,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "How the hell did our conversation turn to this anyway?" "We were talking about God's view of humans," Shizune said, "And Hell,"  
"Oh, speaking of Hell, you wanna talk to God about it?" Ranma asked.  
"Talk to God about Hell? And just how do I do that?" Shizune asked with a wry smile, "Don't tell me I'm supposed to pray or something,"  
Ranma jerked a thumb toward the supermarket entrance, "I'll go call her. There's a pay phone just outside,"  
"Call her?" Shizune asked.  
She followed Ranma back out of the supermarket where there was a pay phone just to the left of the entrance. Ranma reached into his pocket looking for some change. Shizune watched as Ranma came up with nothing before he shrugged his shoulders and started dialing in a number.  
"Yeah, I'd like to make a collect call," Ranma spoke into the receiver. He then turned toward Shizune, "I'm calling God right now. I don't have money for the phone call so I'm calling her collect. She's God so I'm sure she won't mind having to pay for my phone call,"  
Shizune said nothing. Something about the comment seemed completely ludicrous. "You're calling God, and you're making her pay for the phone call?" Shizune asked, noticing how everything that was happening seemed surreal.  
"That's because I have no change," Ranma answered.  
"Should I even ask why you can even call God on a telephone?" Shizune asked.  
"She has a cell phone," Ranma said, "That way, if anyone wants to reach her right away, they can call her. Obviously, only a few people know her cell phone,"  
"But-" Shizune began, sighing after a moment when she realized the more she asked, the more answers Ranma would give her which would make her want to ask even more questions, "Nevermind,"  
"Hey, Skuld, it's Ranma," Ranma spoke into the receiver, "How're you doing? I'm fine. And you? That's good to hear. Hey, are you busy right now? Have you created Hell yet? Not yet? Cool, there's someone I'd like you to meet that would like to talk to you about it,"  
"Me?" Shizune pointed to herself, terrified that Ranma would hand her the phone, "I never said I wanted to talk to God directly about it,"  
"I know you're busy and all, but can you take a moment to visit?" Ranma asked into the phone, "Cool, thanks. Where am I? I'm in front of the supermarket. Yeah, I'll wait here for you. Okay, see you in a bit,"  
Ranma then hung up the phone.  
Shizune was silent for a good minute before she spoke, "The scene that just unfolded, did you just call God on her cell phone and asked that she come meet you outside this supermarket?"  
"Well, yeah," Ranma said dumbly, "Why? Didn't you just see what happened? It's not like I talked to her in some secret divine language you weren't supposed to hear. What you heard was just that, my talking to God and asking her to come visit,"  
"You basically asked her to come here because you think I wanted to give her a piece of my mind about creating Hell?" Shizune asked.  
"Isn't that what you wanted to talk to her about?" Ranma asked, "You sounded rather upset about the notion of her creating Hell and I got the impression you wanted to have a few words with her about her decision,"  
"Is there a chair around?" Shizune looked around, "I think I need to sit down,"  
"You okay? Are you sick or something?" Ranma asked in a concerned voice.  
"Wouldn't you feel a bit sick to your stomach if suddenly find out that you will be meeting God face to face?" Shizune said, "Granted, all of this seems so incredible that it could be some elaborate hoax on your part, but for some odd reason, it feels really real,"  
"A hoax? Why would it be a hoax?" Ranma asked, "Granted, it's hard to believe that I know God, let alone used to be God, but it's not so far fetched. There's no reason for me to lie,"  
"When will she be here?" Shizune asked.  
"In a few minutes," Ranma said, "In the meanwhile, we just wait. If you have any more question y'wanna asked, feel free to ask. It'll help pass the time,"  
Shizune thought about possible questions to ask Ranma. Ranma seemed to be a wealth of knowledge and understanding and she felt she should take advantage of it.  
"So, you think Orochimaru's dead?" Ranma asked curiously.  
"Most definitely," Shizune said.  
"That's good," Ranma said, "If that guy lived, many more lives would've been lost,"  
"Speaking of which, how did you come up with that idea for his fate?" Shizune asked.  
"You mean about him getting eaten alive by ants?" Ranma asked.  
"Yeah, I simply wanted to slit his throat but you're the one that suggested it," Shizune said.  
Ranma said, "Hey, I suggested it, but you were the one that actually did the dirty deed. I guess we are both at fault,"  
"So how'd you come up with such a gruesome fate?" she asked.  
"It's kinda stupid," Ranma said, "There's this friend named Misato. I pressed her, um, Big-O pressure point once to show you that it exists. She's been hounding me about pressing it ever since,"  
"What does that have to do with it?" Shizune asked.  
"She said 'I would let myself be eaten alive by ants after having had all my muscles surgically removed to prevent me from trying to stop them, if it means I can feel the Big-O again at the moment of death'," Ranma said, "It kinda creeped me out that Misato could have such a gruesome imagination that it stuck out in my mind," "This Big-O pressure point I'm really curious about," Shizune perked an eyebrow.  
"I'm not gonna get into that," Ranma said, shaking his head, "Nope. It's not gonna happen. That technique is dangerous I wouldn't be surprised it could change a person's religion,"  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shizune asked.  
"It's just a figurative saying," Ranma shrugged, "Anyway, let's move on and talk about something else,"  
Shizune thought about something else.  
"Okay, so why do bad things happen to good people?" Shizune asked, the first question coming into her mind.  
Ranma started laughing, "Gee, I'm sure you haven't heard such a unique question like that before. The only question I hear asked more is what's the meaning of life,"  
"What, those are bad questions?" Shizune asked.  
"No," Ranma chuckled, "It's just that everyone seems to ask the same thing over and over again, those two questions especially. I've answered those questions countless times to all my friends. Anyway, that's a pretty biased question,"  
"Biased question? How's it biased?" Shizune asked.  
"What makes you think that the person in question is good and the thing that happened to them is bad?" Ranma said, "The problem is that humans are the one that categorized what's good and bad. They're the ones that labeled death as a bad thing, when in truth, death is actually a VERY good thing,"  
"What?" Shizune said.  
"It's completely relative," Ranma said, "For instance, let's say we feel suffering when we get burned alive. We would consider that bad, right? Well, imagine being a creature that needs to be on fired, and having its fire extinguished will cause it to feel a sense of suffering that we would feel had we been burned alive,"  
"I think I still follow you," Shizune said.  
"So, which one is bad, being on fire, or not being on fire?" Ranma asked.  
Shizune said nothing for a moment, "I think I understand what you're implying. But still, from our point of view, being on fire is bad,"  
"But what makes you think your point of view on what is suffering takes priority over the suffering of a fire creature's point of view?" Ranma said.  
Shizune said nothing as Ranma's words started to register.  
"I know it's hard to accept this but humans aren't really special in the grand scheme of things," Ranma shrugged, "One thing that makes us stand out a lot, is that we have one major flaw as a species, we are arrogant and think we are special,"  
"So we aren't special at all?" Shizune asked.  
Ranma shook his head, "Nope. We are no special than, say, the dirt on a road. Everything is equally as special as everything else. However, it's our arrogance that make us believe we are above that of the dirt on a road,"  
"This is quite a lot to take in," Shizune said, "How do we know that that's the case?"  
"Because it is," Ranma shrugged, "I can't answer that question because humans will never be able to understand it so I'm not gonna bother trying to explain it. It's no different than my trying to explain riding a bicycle. No matter how much is explained, you will never understand what it's like unless you ride the bicycle,"  
"Okay, so let's take this as truth, what does that mean?" Shizune asked.  
"It means that the question of 'Why do bad things happen to good people?' is a biased question because humans have categorized what's good and bad even though they are not special and have no say in what is considered good or bad," Ranma stated, "The question you should be asking is 'Why do things happen to people?', to which the answer is 'Because we are no special than anything else that exists',"  
"If this stuff is all true, then this is kind of depressing," Shizune said sadly.  
Ranma laughed, "Hey, you're the one that asked,"  
"It's kind of hard to take in, yes," Shizune said, "But doesn't it strike you as odd, that we actually seem modeled after God's image, yet aren't special?"  
Ranma chuckled, "Ah, I see our human flaws, our human arrogance, is kicking in as we try to grasp at straws trying to validate that we are indeed special. We are not modeled after God,"  
"But what about this Skuld person?" Shizune asked, "You said she looked human,"  
"Heh, true, but that's because she remains in that form," Ranma said, "Keep in mind she's actually the forth God to exist. The original God, the one that started it all, is formless. Skuld is a goddess that now has the absolute power of God. The thing you need to understand is that she's more of a Goddess than God which is why she keeps that form. It's no different than you having a preference to wearing a certain outfit, and getting a job as the president of a company where it is known that the president should wear a certain business-like outfit. However, instead of wearing that business-like outfit, you prefer to wear your own preferred clothes. Why should it not matter what you wear? Well, it's because you're the president of that company and you can do whatever you want. The truth is humans are not modeled in God's image,"  
"Oh," Shizune said.  
At that moment, a brilliant light suddenly appeared right next to them, expanding spherically outward in every direction. Shizune gasped as the light enveloped her, continuing to expand and enveloping everything else. She looked in surprise as nearby pedestrians suddenly stopped moving, as if frozen in time. Birds seemed to freeze in mid-flight, sounds suddenly disappeared, as if the vibrating air molecules that transferred sound stopped moving as well. Everything stopped.  
"Here she comes," Ranma said.  
Perhaps not everything stopped for Ranma didn't seem to stop like the surrounding world and neither did Shizune for she seemed to be aware that everything had stopped.  
When the light disappeared, it revealed a young looking girl with long black hair and three markings on her face, one on her forehead and one on each cheek. She wore an elegant looking white and red outfit that seemed otherworldly, as well as had a small red mallet with a long handle strapped around her back.  
Shortly after the light disappeared, the world suddenly began moving, as if time resumed its course. Everyone went about their business as if completely unaware of Skuld's sudden arrival.  
"Hey, Skuld," Ranma smiled.  
"Hi, Ranma," Skuld said in a happy voice.  
"I don't see the point in you freezing time so no one sees your arrival," Ranma said casually, "It's not like you don't have the power to alter this world's reality should someone actually see you arrive outta thin air like that,"  
"I know," Skuld answered, "But this takes less effort. I'd rather stop time than change this world no one had witnessed my arrival,"  
"So, is there are reason why you asked me to come here?" Skuld asked.  
"Skuld, I'd like to introduce you to someone," Ranma said, gesturing toward Shizune, "This is Shizune. She and I were together for a good deal of time back when I was on her and Naruto's world,"  
"Speaking of which, you really messed that world up," Skuld narrowed her eyes at Ranma.  
"I did?" Ranma asked, trying to smile innocently.  
"Hmph," Skuld wasn't amused. She then cleared her throat, "So, why did you call me down here? I'm kind of busy and need to get back to work,"  
Ranma smiled warmly as he patted the top of Skuld's head, "Aw, that's so cute. Skuld acting all adult-like and responsible. She's like a career woman,"  
Skuld swatted Ranma's hand away and made an almost pouting noise, "I'm not a kid,"  
Ranma smiled, "I'm just teasing. Sheesh, no need to get all defensive. I betcha if Shinji did that, you wouldn't mind,"  
Skuld blushed beet red, "I will too," Ranma teased Skuld about Shinji. He pretended that he thought Skuld had a crush on Shinji. Skuld didn't, but she felt almost obligated to be overly nice to Shinji.  
Skuld's birthday had passed recently and Shinji had bought her a bicycle as her birthday present. It was perhaps the greatest present she ever received because she absolutely loved bicycles and always had a fondness of them because they remind her of the happy times she spent on Earth back when she and Belldandy and Urd used to live together with Keiichi Morisato. That life had taken place such a long time ago that the wave of warm memories she received when she set eyes on the bicycle for the very first time was what made that present so endearing. It was as if Shinji's present wasn't the bicycle but the actual happy memories she had forgotten about so long ago.  
Because Shinji had managed to somehow give her such a great present, she felt almost obligated to find a gift just as remarkable. The problem was that she had no real idea what Shinji liked or wanted. She didn't want to use her powers because Shinji didn't have that advantage yet managed to find her a perfect present. She should be able to do the same. This was why Ranma thought Skuld had a crush on Shinji, because she hung around Shinji a lot, subtly asking him questions in hopes of finding out what he wanted. Unfortunately, to this day, she still had no idea what kind of present to get him and his birthday was coming up soon.  
Little did Skuld know that the present that Shinji got for her was actually Ranma's idea. Ranma had been the one that suggested the present but let Shinji take the credit. Shinji had been the one that remembered Skuld's birthday while Ranma had forgotten. Ranma ended up getting Skuld a book of unsolved mathematical theories. Skuld was mildly amused at the present because it kept Skuld busy for a day or so as she went about solving every theory in the book.  
"So, what's the reason why you called me here?" Skuld asked, "I'm a bit busy, y'know,"  
"I'm just curious as to if you've created Hell or not," Ranma said.  
"Not yet," Skuld said, "I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've been busy trying to design an alien invasion of a parallel world to this,"  
"Really?" Ranma seemed interested, "Where?"  
"I don't think so," Skuld said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "So what about Hell that interests you? What, you don't think I should create it?"  
Ranma shrugged, "What does it matter what I think? It's not like my opinion matters,"  
Skuld looked at Ranma for a moment, a bit curious. "Um, I'm just curious," Skuld asked after a moment, believing she already knew the answer.  
"It doesn't sound like a bad idea," Ranma said. Skuld did a double-take, "What? You think it's okay?"  
"Sure," Ranma said.  
"Oh, I've got to hear this," Skuld said, "Considering you're human, your answer is the exact opposite I would expect it to be,"  
"Well, if that was the case, wouldn't it be because of my human selfish nature to not want Hell created?" Ranma asked.  
"True," Skuld said, a bit surprised at Ranma's ability to understand things beyond human nature. While Ranma was human by nature, his understanding of his surroundings was definitely beyond that of human abilities, "So what are your reasons?"  
"Well, humans believe Hell exists so it's pretty cool of you to actually listen to humans and make a belief realized," Ranma said, "Granted, it's a place of eternal torment and suffering, but that's besides the point,"  
"How's that besides the point?" Shizune jumped in.  
"Well, let's pretend Heaven doesn't exist," Ranma said, "However, all humans believed it exists. Along comes Skuld to take their beliefs into consideration and deciding to make human's belief into something real and create Heaven for them. To me, that's pretty cool of Skuld,"  
Shizune said nothing as she finally understood Ranma's reasoning.  
"Just because something is a place of eternal torment and suffering or eternal bliss and happiness, that's not the point," Ranma said, "What would your stance be if I came up to you and said 'Right now, when humans die, they go to X. However, they also believe in a place called Y, which doesn't exist at the moment. I'm going to create Y for the humans because they believe it to be real'?"  
"I'd say it depends on what X and Y are," Shizune said. "If that's the case, morality would become an issue," Skuld jumped in, "Making decisions based on a human trait, the sense of morality, isn't the way to make decisions,"  
"Then I guess I would be incapable of making such a decisions since I wouldn't be able to not let a sense of morality be an attributing variable in my decision making," Shizune said, realizing that her human understanding limited her to ability to understand the justification of creating Hell.  
"What about everyone?" Shizune asked, "Aren't you friends with a lot of humans? Aren't you worried that they would end up in Hell when they die? You have no problems seeing them suffering?"  
"They won't end up in Hell," Skuld said, "They will have a free pass to Heaven. Considering all the good they've done, they'll be welcomed in Heaven,"  
"Cool," Ranma grinned.  
"Except for you," Skuld said in annoyance, "Heaven doesn't want you. You cause enough trouble,"  
"What does that mean? I'll end up in Hell?" Ranma asked.  
"Perhaps," Skuld said.  
Ranma laughed as he placed an arm around Skuld, "You're so funny,"  
"I really will," Skuld said, trying to sound serious, "Don't tempt me. I'll put you down there and have it where you're surrounded by cats or something,"  
Ranma narrowed his eyes at Skuld, "That's not funny,"  
Skuld giggled.  
"What about everyone else?" Shizune asked.  
"They'll probably be judged I guess," Skuld shrugged, "It'd be a pretty big project, creating Hell, and the system of how it works, but things should turn out okay. I'm confident in my abilities,"  
"You know what you hafta take into consideration?" Ranma asked.  
"What?" Skuld asked.  
"What if you end up stepping down from your role of God like Urd and me sometime down the line?" Ranma asked, "If that's the case, what makes you think we would end up in Heaven and not Hell while under the watch of the successor God?"  
Skuld said nothing as she realized that could very well be possible.  
Ranma nudged at Skuld's side, "And for all we know, imagine Shinji ends up in Hell as well. That would be bad,"  
Skuld remained silent.  
"Then again, you could always create Hell and forcibly kill everyone off and bring them to Heaven so that would not be an issue, but I don't think they would like it," Ranma shrugged, "But, hey, you're God so it's not like they can do anything about it. Even if they're angry at you, who cares, you're God afterall,"  
Skuld scratched the back of her head, "Hm, maybe I need to think more about creating Hell,"  
"Maybe you shouldn't create Hell. That way, you wouldn't hafta worry about it," Ranma suggested, "Or what might happen down the line,"  
"Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that would be for the better," Skuld stated, seemingly arriving upon some conclusion that not creating Hell would be a good idea, "Creating Hell is more of a flight of fancy anyway so there isn't really a need to create it anyway,"  
"True," Ranma shrugged, "There are other things less risky anyway,"  
"Like what?" Skuld asked.  
Shizune watched in surprise as she realized that God seemed to be asking Ranma for advice.  
"How about you create this phenomenon where people who can't distinguish the difference between 'your' and 'you're' get shocked when they use the wrong word?" Ranma asked jokingly.  
Skuld perked an eyebrow as she pondered that suggestion, "Hm,"  
"Anyway, since we're done talking about Hell, I have a request," Ranma said.  
"What is it?" Skuld asked.  
"Can you return me to my original body?" Ranma asked, "Have you gotten used to your powers yet to do so?"  
"Of course," Skuld said, "You ended in the past and in a different body when I returned you to your human form because I wasn't used to my powers then. I'm much more used to it now,"  
Shizune watched as Skuld made a waving motion toward Ranma, Ranma suddenly becoming engulfed in a bright light. When the bright light disappeared, it revealed a slightly older and taller Ranma.  
Shizune gasped at Ranma's sudden change. While Ranma didn't really look much differently than his younger self, there was a much stronger aura to Ranma now than ever before. He also looked physically much more attractive now than before, a biological respond her body was indicating at the realization that Ranma was now a man and not a boy like she was used to seeing him as.  
"Finally, back to normal," Ranma looked at himself, flexing his arms.  
Skuld looked around noticed that everyone was staring.  
Ranma chuckled, "Heh, it seems like you managed to avoid catching everyone's attention upon your arrival, but you forgot to do the same when it came to giving me back my body,"  
Skuld sighed, "Yeah, I forgot,"  
She made a hand motion in the direction of the onlookers as a sphere of light extended from her body, growing outward and eventually passing through all the onlookers. A second later, the onlookers stopped staring and resumed whatever they were doing, ignoring Ranma and the others.  
"What did you do?" Shizune asked.  
"I removed the memories of all the people who saw what happened," Skuld said, "It's a quick-fix solution but it'll do,"  
"Incredible," Shizune was awed by Skuld's power.  
"Thanks for your help," Ranma smiled happily, "For your thanks, I'll help you out,"  
"Help me out? Help me out with what?" Skuld asked.  
"Shinji's birthday is coming up," Ranma said, "If you wanna get him a very good and thoughtful present, get him a swivel for his television,"  
"What?" Skuld asked, "A swivel?"  
"Shinji likes watching television while using his computer," Ranma stated, "He also watches television before he goes to sleep. The problem is that he always has to lift up and turn the television to face him for when he's using a computer and when he's about to go to sleep. A swivel for his television would be extremely convenient for him,"  
"Really?" Skuld's eyes lit up. She had been pining over what present to get Shinji for his upcoming birthday, as a way of thanks for the bicycle present he had gotten her for her birthday, that Ranma's suggestion couldn't have come at a better time.  
"Yeah," Ranma nodded.  
Skuld cleared her throat, "Um, thanks. I probably would've figured it out anyway," She didn't want to seem ecstatic at Ranma's clue because that would make it seem like she needed Ranma's help more than Ranma needed her help.  
Ranma laughed, "Sure, whatever you say,"  
"Well, I guess I better be going now," Skuld said, eager to drop whatever she was doing to head into town to look for the greatest television swivel to buy. "All right," Ranma said, "Thanks for returning me to my body,"  
Ranma watched as Skuld ran off down the street, eventually disappearing around a corner.  
"Strange, I figured she would have disappeared like the way she appeared," Shizune commented.  
"Nah, she ran off because she's probably heading off toward town to buy the present now," Ranma said, "I know Skuld pretty well and the way she thinks,"  
"So...that was God, huh?" Shizune was still in a state of disbelief.  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "I know, it's hard to believe, but yeah, she's God,"  
"You're a bit confusing," Shizune stated, "For a person who seemed keen on the idea of Hell actually existing, how come you ended up being the one that convinced Skuld not to create it?"  
Ranma shrugged, "I dunno. You seemed dead set against Skuld creating Hell. Since it seemed like you were too nervous to speak your mind to Skuld, I decided to talk on your behalf,"  
Shizune said nothing awed at what Ranma did.  
Did Ranma even realize what he had done? He had just saved the future human race from the potential prospect of eternal torment and suffering. It was if Ranma had just saved not the world, but the human race of all worlds.  
And what did Ranma do after having done what he did?  
Ranma scratched himself, "I'm hungry. Let's get some food,"  
"Shouldn't we get back home?" Shizune asked, "Shouldn't Akane be done with dinner around now?"  
"Oh yeah," Ranma said.  
Together, Ranma and Shizune headed back toward Ranma's house.  
What an incredible man, Shizune thought, stealing glances at Ranma. He's saved many worlds and countless lives. He would even sacrifice himself to save the life of a total stranger, a true altruist. And now, he somehow managed to convince God not to create Hell, a place of great suffering, from being created. He is definitely an incredible person and I'm glad I got to meet him. At this rate, there's probably nothing he can't do.  
"We're back," Ranma said as he and Shizune entered the house.  
"Where's the milk?" Akane asked.  
Ranma realized his mistake.  
"Shit,"

Ranma looked at the piece of paper and read it to himself, "'Eat, Drink, Man, Woman' (pause for a few seconds) Have you seen that movie? If so, do you know where I can find it?"  
Scratching his head, Ranma wondered what the significance of that statement was. Shinji had given him a piece of paper, saying that it was for the 'Random Encounter' webpage, but had not indicated exactly what it meant. Ranma had heard of that movie before, but he didn't like watching movies, so he had no idea why Shinji wanted him to look for that movie.  
Shortly after Ranma had gotten home, Akane had sent him back out to get milk. He happened to bump into Shinji on his way out and told him he was headed toward town. That was when Shinji gave him that piece of paper asking if he could read it to some random woman whenever he got the chance.  
Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma looked around for the first beautiful woman he saw. It wasn't hard finding a beautiful woman for some reason. It was as if beautiful congregated to MegaTokyo.  
"Hi," Ranma approached a woman.  
The woman looked like she was on her way home from work and dressed in what most would consider a business power dress business executives could be seen wearing. What her position at her workplace was, Ranma had no idea. She had shoulder-length black hair and was not only very beautiful, but had an aura of confidence that would most likely intimidate lesser men. She reminded him a bit of Sylia in the way she carried herself.  
"'Eat, Drink, Man, Woman'," Ranma said, recalling what he read, remembering that he should wait a few seconds.  
The woman regarded Ranma for a second before she smiled warmly, "Sure,"  
Realizing that the woman must be aware that he was going to ask her if she had seen that movie and had answered, Ranma asked the next question.  
"Cool, do you know where-" Ranma began to ask. "There's a nice restaurant nearby, we can try that place," the woman said confidently, used to being the one making all the decisions.  
"Are you sure?" Ranma scratched his head. It didn't make sense, how would he be able to find that movie at a restaurant? Did the restaurant rent out that movie?  
"Well, where would you like to go, then?" the woman realized she was no longer at work and decided she would let Ranma do the leading.  
"I have no idea," Ranma said, "That's why I'm asking you,"  
"Okay, we can try that restaurant then," the woman smiled warmly.  
Ranma watched as the woman walked off. A bit confused, Ranma followed suit, eventually walking astride the woman.  
"I must say, that was easily the most original way I've ever been asked out before," the woman began.  
Truly confused, Ranma asked, "Huh?"  
"You sure got to the point," the woman laughed warmly, "'Eat, Drink, Man, Woman', I don't think you can get any more to-the-point than that using a line like that,"  
Ranma stopped walking for a second as he tried to figure out what just happened. After a moment, he crumpled the paper in his fist within his pocket "Oh, now I get it,"  
Ranma realized Shinji wanted Ranma to start of his statement with the name of the movie because if the person wasn't aware that the four words he was saying was the title of a movie, they might misunderstand and think it meant something else. Knowing Ranma's luck, a woman thought he was asking her out on a date.  
"What the hell?" Ranma muttered to himself.  
"Excuse me?" the woman was taken back at Ranma's crude language. "No," Ranma said, "I was just talking to myself. I just realized this trick a friend pulled on me. I'm gonna get back at him," He then tapped the small brooch that was pinned toward the lapel of his shirt, "Y'hear that? You're gonna pay for that,"

"Shinji!" Ranma said in an annoyed voice as he entered Shinji's bedroom.  
Shinji quickly shot up nervously, "I can explain,"  
"Okay, I think it's time we give up on this 'Random Encounter' webpage project of yours," Ranma said, "This stuff is getting ridiculous. I had no problems just chit-chatting with random girls, but when it comes to my ending up having to go to dinner with them because they think I was asking them out on a date because of some misunderstanding, that's crossing the line,"  
Shinji said, "It was a request,"  
"Whatcha mean?" Ranma asked.  
Shinji gestured toward the webpage behind him, "The webpage we made is generating massive traffic,"  
"So?" Ranma didn't care.  
"Lots of people use it as a learning tool," Shinji said, "But there are people that believe this is all staged,"  
"So? I don't care if people believe it or not," Ranma said, "That still doesn't explain-"  
"Some people send in emails asking for requests," Shinji said.  
"And that was one of the requests?" Ranma asked.  
Shinji nodded, "The request seemed perfectly harmless, and frankly, I was really curious if it actually worked,"  
"What other requests do people send?" Ranma was curious.  
Shinji looked a bit nervous, "Um, I don't recommend you seeing them,"  
"Lemme see some," Ranma said, pointing over Shinji's shoulders toward the computer screen.  
Not one to say no to Ranma, Shinji sighed as he swiveled around in his chair and opened up the mail program. After a second, some random email was being displayed on the monitor.  
"'Can you whip out your dick and just point to it and record how they react?" Ranma read the email aloud, "Jeez, what the hell's wrong with those people,"  
"Um, well, it's the Internet," Shinji tried to explain, "There are a lot of crazy people out there. The perceived anonymity makes them think they can say anything and get away with it,"  
"Then expose them," Ranma said, "Tell Ritsuko to track down whoever sent whatever emails and expose them and post them on the webpage for the world to see. That way, it'll scare away all the crazies from emailing you with crazy requests. That can be done, right?"  
"I guess so," Shinji said.  
"Then have it done," Ranma said, "Otherwise, close the webpage down and count me out,"  
"Okay," Shinji said.  
Ranma peered over Shinji's shoulders and read another email "'When you're hungry, can you just say 'I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat' That's a request? That's an odd request. What's the purpose of doing something like that?"  
"I'm not too sure," Shinji said, "Sure, the webpage does receive some weird requests, most of the perverted, but some requests seem genuinely curious, like the one you just read,"  
Ranma scratched his head, "I don't see the point in that. I say that to everyone when I wanna get some food,"  
"That's true, but have you ever said that to a total stranger?" Shinji asked.  
"Well, not really," Ranma said, "I only say that because I know the person,"  
"I think the request the email is making is for you to ask a total stranger to get food with you as if that person wasn't a stranger at all," Shinji said.  
"Oh, so the request is basically making me assume I'm talking to the person like I know her to see how she reacts?" Ranma asked.  
"I'm not positive," Shinji said.  
"That would be interesting," Ranma said, "It'd be like me walking up to a stranger and start talking to him like I've known him for years to see if he would stop to tell me I'm mistakening him for someone else, or just continue to say nothing and just listen,"  
"That could be the case," Shinji said.  
"Hm, I gotta go try that out," Ranma said before turning around and walking out of Shinji's room.

Ranma was walking down the street when someone called his name.  
"Ranma," came a voice.  
Turning around, Ranma caught sight of the Rogue, Storm, Jean, and Psylocke. "Hey, what's up?" Ranma said.  
He watched as Jean, Storm, and Rogue reached into their pockets and pulled out tiny communicators, attaching them to their ear. Those communicators helped them understand what Ranma was saying since there was an obvious language barrier between English and Japanese. Psylocke didn't need a communicator since she understood Japanese. "Why dontcha just keep them in?" Ranma said to the three women, "You're in Japan, afterall,"  
"They're kind of bothersome to wear all the time," Jean stated, "We only took them off a short while ago when we were eating and basically forgot to put them back on,"  
"How you girls liking your visit?" Ranma asked.  
"'Girls'?" all four women narrowed their eyes at Ranma.  
"Women, females, ladies, whatever," Ranma shrugged, "Y'know what I mean,"  
"Ah really don't think Ranma's ever gonna learn that we are not 'girls'," Rogue muttered.  
"Where're the others?" Ranma asked, casually dismissing Rogue's statement.  
"Beast is with Lisa, Bateau, and Motoko," Jean said, "Lisa figured today was a good time to upgrade a few of Bateau's and Motoko's cybernetic body parts and Beast wanted to observe and learn. The technology of this world truly fascinates him,"  
"How about Cyclops and Logan?" Ranma asked.  
"They're visiting a few tourist attractions," Jean answered.  
"Why, they didn't want to go with you girls while you all went shopping or doing whatever girls like to do when together?" Ranma asked.  
All four women sighed. Ranma was incorrigible and it was obvious he would not only not stop calling them girls, but he would never stop making sexist remarks.  
"For your information, we didn't go shopping like you so believe," Psylocke said. "Well, that's because you're taller than average Japanese women so you girls probably tried to go shopping, found out that none of the clothes would fit, and decided to give up," Ranma chuckled.  
"Ranma, I'd like to consider myself as having a very long leash, but you're seriously starting to get on my nerves with your comments," Storm looked like she was fighting back the urge to strangle Ranma.  
Ranma nudged at Rogue, "C'mon, did I hit close to home? I gave you girls a lotta money so it's not like you couldn't go shopping. Everyone's gonna get together for a nice meal later tonight so you probably didn't go out eating. You didn't go site seeing since that means you'll be with Cyclops and Logan. The only other thing I could think of is-"  
"All right! All right!" Rogue threw her arms up in the air, "Yer right! We did try and go shoppin'! We realized that most of the clothes wouldn't fit us! There, y'happy?"  
Ranma smiled, "Don't worry, you're just not looking at the right places. Here, I'll take you girls shopping. The problem is that you were probably checking around town. It's better that you go one town up North from here because there's a major airport there and where most of the tourists hang around,"  
All four women remained where they were as they watched Ranma walk off as if he were expecting them to follow him obediently. They smirked as Ranma realized he was walking by himself and turned around.  
"Y'coming?" Ranma asked, making a waving motion for them to follow him.  
All four women crossed their arms in front of their chests.  
"No?" Ranma didn't realize they women were merely staying where they were to prove their point, that Ranma had no in control over them and they weren't obligated to listen to him if they didn't feel like it.  
"Um, okay," Ranma said with a shrug.  
They watched in surprise as Ranma walked off, walking across the street.  
"What's with 'em? I was trying to be nice and all too," Ranma muttered under his breath.  
After a second, he recalled the request he had read on Shinji's computer. That was the original reason why he was there in the first place. Even though he was going to be eating later tonight, he had an insatiable appetite and eating something now would not spoil his appetite for tonight's dinner whatsoever.  
He looked around for some random woman. Within seconds, he spotted a beautiful woman with short brown hair.  
He casually walked up to her, causing her to stop as he stood in her path.  
"Um, hello," the woman greeted Ranma curiously.  
"I'm hungry," Ranma said, "Let's go get something to eat,"  
To add icing to the cake, Ranma extended his hand forward for the woman to take. He figured if he was going to pretend he knew the stranger, he might as well act the part completely. He had no problem asking a stranger to eat with him because he didn't particularly like to eat alone since he was a sociable person and preferred company than not.  
The woman was obviously confused for a moment, as if needing that time to assess who the handsome stranger was in front of her, before coming to the conclusion that, while his approach was indeed unorthodox, he seemed like a person she would definitely not mind getting to know.  
"Okay," she said, extending her hand forward and taking a hold of Ranma's hand.  
Ranma turned around and walked off, the woman following in tow, her hand in his, the two of them disappearing into the crowd.  
A short distance away, four women had observed all that had occurred.  
"Did I see that correctly?" Psylocke commented, "Did Ranma just dismiss us to go eat with a stranger?"  
"That didn't turn out like we expected," Storm had to admit, "I'm pretty sure we just wanted him to get the picture that we didn't want him acting like some control freak around us, only to see him turn right around and somehow ask someone out as if he was telling her to go out with him, and she doing it,"  
All four women looked at one another, all of them confused.  
It didn't really matter because they would have the last laugh at the end anyway.  
Ranma forgot to buy milk again.

Ranma waited at the front of his house for everyone's arrival. A couple days had passed and it was now Friday night. That meant tonight would be 'Friday Dinner' a weekly dinner get-together where everyone met up at Ranma's house and enjoy each other's company. A car pulled up to the house that Ranma didn't recognize.  
Two doors opened up and out stepped Madigan and Jun. "Well, I'll be," Ranma smiled, "I wasn't expecting you to come all the way down for Friday Dinner, what with you guys living so far away and all,"  
Unlike most of the people Ranma had befriend, Madigan, Carper, and Jun lived far up North, having moved there not too long ago. Carper and Madigan both got very prestigious jobs and had to relocate. As much as Jun didn't appreciate having to move to a new school and making new friends, she was a very outgoing young girl and could make friends wherever she went. "Well, we heard you were back and wanted to pay you a visit," Madigan smiled warmly, giving Ranma a warm embrace, "Friday Dinner seemed to be the perfect occasion for it since it means we can meet everyone else,"  
"That's a good idea," Ranma said.  
"Hi, Ranma!" Jun smiled happily at Ranma, giving him a hug.  
"Hey, Jun," Ranma smiled warmly, "Wow, it's been a while since I've last seen you. You're really growing up to be a beautiful young lady,"  
Jun was a bundle of joy and looked to be around thirteen. She had a long flowing mane of chocolate brown hair and a smile that looked like it could light up a room. Jun giggled, "Thank you,"  
Carper, finished parking the car, approached Ranma.  
"Carper, long time no see," Ranma grinned. "It's nice to see you, Ranma," Carper said.  
The three new arrivals cast Shizune, Naruto, and Ton-Ton a glance. The three of them had made themselves at home staying at Ranma's place. They fit in with everyone as if they had lived on their world all their lives.  
"Oh, I forgot, these are a few friends of mine," Ranma gestured toward Shizune and the others, "This is Shizune, Naruto, and Ton-Ton,"  
"Aw, what a cute pig," Jun bent down and proceeded to pet Ton-Ton. The pig didn't seem to mind the attention one bit, squealing happily.  
"I was on a different world before I came here," Ranma said, "They decided to pay my world a visit,"  
Madigan cast Shizune a smirked, "Let me guess, you're here because you're in love with Ranma,"  
"What?" Shizune blushed a deep shade of red, shocked at this woman's statement. She had affection for Ranma, yes, perhaps even attracted to him, but she wasn't in love with him or anything.  
Madigan shrugged, "Well, considering how every female he knows seems to be secretly in love with him, I guess it was naturally to assume that it would be the case with Shizune as well,"  
Ranma made a shooing motion toward Madigan as he said, "Why dontcha head inside and say hi to Akane,"  
Madigan smirked before she took her cue, "All right. I'll meet you guys inside. It's been nice meeting you. Jun, honey, leave Ton-Ton alone. Let's head in,"  
"All right," Jun seemed sad as she stopped petting Ton-Ton before following after her mother and father.  
Carper followed closely behind Madigan. Shizune turned toward Ranma, wondering who Madigan was and how she seemed rather friendly with Ranma.  
"Madigan and Carper I knew from well over ten years ago," Ranma seemed to read her mind, "Remember how I told you about my past, about how I lost my friends and family to boomers? They both worked at the company that created those boomers, Genom,"  
"You mean they're responsible for what happened to you in your past?" Shizune asked, "Wouldn't you harbor some kind of great animosity if that was the case?"  
Ranma said, "Not at all. They started working for the company well after what happened to me so they had no play in what happened to me. They worked at the Genom during the time when I came back after Genom seeking revenge,"  
"So that means they thought you were the bad guy, so to speak," Shizune stated.  
Ranma nodded, "Yes. They tried to kill me. Don't worry about it, almost everyone I've met seemed to initially wanna kill me when they first meet me. I guess it's because I don't make good first impressions. Most people don't like me when they first meet me but I guess I grow on them,"  
Shizune said nothing. If she thought about it, she didn't particularly like Ranma but had to admit that he did grow on her,"  
Ranma looked at Naruto and noticed the young boy staring at the entrance to the house through where Carper, Madigan and Jun had entered.  
"W-who was that?" Naruto asked.  
"Huh?" Ranma asked.  
"That girl," Naruto had a big blush on his cheeks.  
"Oh, you mean Jun? That's their daughter," Ranma said. He then grinned when he noticed Naruto's blush, "Awww, how cute, it seems like Naruto seems to have developed some kinda crush on Jun. Could this be love at first sight?"  
"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Naruto shouted at Ranma, "I don't even know who she is!"  
Ranma decided not to press on and continue teasing Naruto. "If you want, I'll introduce you to her," Ranma nudged the young boy, "I'll tell her about all the heroic stuff you've done,"  
"You will?" Naruto seemed helpful.  
"Don't worry, I won't tell them about the time you tried to steal Shizune's and Tsunade's panties," Ranma grinned.  
"You told me is was a part of my training!" Naruto shouted.  
Shizune glared at Ranma, "Oh yeah! I completely forgot about that stunt you pulled back then in the bathhouse!"  
Ranma gave a meek smile, "Say, the weather's awfully nice out tonight, huh?"  
"Don't go changing the subject!" Shizune said.  
Ton-Ton squealed.  
Ranma turned toward Ton-Ton, "What? Shizune was flattered when she found out?"  
"What?" Shizune shouted loudly.  
Ton-Ton squealed again.  
"Really? You overheard Shizune talking to Tsunade about how she found it flattering?" Ranma stated.  
"Ton-Ton, I can't believe you're telling him that!" Shizune shouted, "What I said was supposed to be in confidence between you, me, and Tsunade!"  
Ranma turned toward Shizune, his eyes wide open, "What? You really were flattered?"  
"Huh?" Shizune was momentarily confused.  
"Oh my God! I was just making a guess!" Ranma started laughing, "Oh man, I can't believe it turned out to be true!"  
Shizune turned a deep shade of red from the embarrassment.  
From out of the front door came a massive mallet flew through the air where it hit Ranma in the side of the head. Ranma yelped in pain as he rubbed at his head furiously.  
"Enough of your teasing!" came Akane's voice from the kitchen in side the house.  
"How the Hell did you manage to hit me?" Ranma shouted, "You're in the damn kitchen! How'd you manage to throw a mallet through the house from the kitchen at hit me? There are corners between the kitchen and the front entrance!"  
Ranma rubbed the back of his head as he thought about picking up the mallet and throwing it away but decided against it. He was pretty sure Akane had an infinite supply of mallets so getting rid of one of them wouldn't matter.  
He looked at his watch, "I wonder when the others will get here,"  
As he was finishing the sentence, a portal opened up right by the front entrance where several figures emerged.  
"Ah, perfect timing," Ranma said. From out of the portal emerged Cyclops, Logan, Beast, Rogue, Psylocke, Jean, Nightcrawler and Storm. All of them were dressed in nice clothes and sporting communicators so they would be able to understand one another. After their visit to Ranma's world, Ranma had told them they were welcome to come back on Friday evening where he and his friends had 'Friday Dinner' and were welcome to invite as many friends as they wanted. Unfortunately, Ranma had never told them what to wear and they assumed they should dress for a nice meal and a night out on the town.  
"Hey, guys, nice of you to make it," Ranma said. Nightcrawler bowed politely, "It's nice of you to have us,"  
"Just curious, do magnets stick to you?" Ranma asked Logan from out of the blue, "I never got around to asking you that. Since your skeletal system is coated with adamantium, and adamantium is a kind of super strong metal, does that mean magnets stick to you?"  
"Where the heck did that jus' come from?" Rogue laughed, "Ranma, sugar, are you jus' lookin' fer trouble?"  
"No, I'm just generally curious," Ranma asked.  
Logan sneered at Ranma, his claws shooting out from his fists, "Why dontcha find a magnet and try and come close to me and find out for yourself, bub?"  
Ranma held up his hands defensively, "Alright, nevermind. I was merely curious. I didn't know you were gonna take it personally. It's not like I called you a lumberjack because you're Canadian or something,"  
"Oh my God, do you ever listen to some of the stuff spewing out of your mouth?" Storm nearly shouted at Ranma. While she did have a sense of humor, she often found Ranma's lack of tact more enraging than amusing.  
"Not really," Ranma said, "Just assume that any time you see me open my mouth, it's to put my foot in it,"  
Several of them laughed. Before long, they all started laughing, the tension dissipated. Except for Logan, he looked less angry after the short laugh but angry nonetheless. Naruto emerged from house, "Ranma, Akane's wondering if the others had showed up," When he noticed that Cyclops and the others were there, he knew his answer and turned around and shouted into the house, "Cyclops and the others are here,"  
"I must say, I feel a bit weird leaving our world just to come have dinner here," Jean commented, "I always get the feeling that our world would get invaded or something while we were gone,"  
"Don't worry about it," Ranma asked, "I asked God to suspend your world's timeline while you were gone,"  
Beast chuckled, "I like how you so casually say that. It must be nice being friends with God,"  
"She owes me because I gave her a hint for a good birthday present for someone," Ranma stated.  
Beast laughed a hearty laugh, "How come I'm not surprised it would be something like that?" Asuka emerged from the house, "Hi, everyone,"  
"Evening, Asuka," everyone seemed to say in unison or something along those lines. Nightcrawler greeted her in her native language, German. Akane and Shizune emerged from the house. They all greeted one another and made small talk, expressing excitement about tonight's dinner. As they talked, Sylia, Nene, Nene-chan, Priss, Lina, Misato, Misato-chan, Ritsuko, Ritsuko-chan walked in through the front gate.  
"Damn, everyone is coming in huge crowds," Ranma commented, glad everyone knew each other from earlier in the week. Ranma had introduce most of the X-Men to his friends before Shizune and Naruto and Ton-Ton showed up. A bright light appeared as a portal opened. Everyone turned their attention as they watched Lina and Luna emerge from the portal. Shortly after Lina's and Luna's appearance, another portal opened up and out emerged Skuld and Urd.  
"Skuld, Urd, you're gonna join us?" Ranma was pleasantly surprised, "I wasn't expecting you two to eat with us,"  
"What, you don't want us here?" Urd smirked.  
"Who's watching Heaven if you two are here?" Ranma asked.  
"Peorth," Urd said, "She's more than competent to take care of things while we're gone. Even if things go bad, it's not like she can't get in contact with us right away,"  
"We're honored that God will be gracing us with her presence," Cyclops said. It was now common knowledge among the X-Men that Skuld was God, having taken over the position when Urd relinquished her God-powers to return Ranma back to human. Even though most of the X-Men remember Urd as God, they knew that Skuld commanded their utmost respects.  
"Wow, isn't it a bit early for you to be kissing ass?" Ranma smirked. He genuinely liked picking on Cyclops for some reason, perhaps even more so than Asuka. Logan bust out laughing, everyone soon following suit. Jean snickered but pretended she was coughing when Cyclops looked in her direction. She didn't want to like she was enjoying a good laugh at her husband's expense.  
Ranma looked around, "Hm, only a few more to expect,"  
As if on cue, Asuka-chan, Rei, Shinji and Emiko entered through the front gate. Shinji was carrying bags indicating they were coming home from town where they had gone shopping, even Rei. Shinji looked kind of bored, as if the girls dragged him along to carry their shopping bags.  
"Cutting it close, huh?" Ranma smirked, "We were about to leave,"  
Shinji and the others headed into the house to get changed into some nicer clothes. After a few minutes, they all emerged from the house to see that Bateau, Motoko, and Lisa had joined the group as well.  
Ranma took a moment to glance at everyone.  
"You think we a large enough group?" Akane smirked.  
"Akane, Sylia, Linna, Nene, Nene-chan, Priss, Lisa, Madigan, Carper, Jun, Shizune, Naruto, Ton-Ton, Beast, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Logan, Jean, Psylocke, Rogue, Storm, Lina, Luna, Urd, Skuld, Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Asuka-chan, Emiko, Motoko, Bateau," Ranma said, "It seems like we're missing only one more person, but we have no idea if he'll show up,"  
As if on cue, a bright light appeared by the entrance, disappearing just as quickly. When everyone's eyes became adjusted to the darkness of the night sky, their gaze rested on Ryoga.  
"Ryoga! Wow, I was just talking about you!" Ranma said, "We didn't know if you were gonna show up,"  
As short distance away, Ton-Ton's eyes seemed to turn into hearts as it laid eyes on Ryoga for the very first time.  
Ryoga narrowed his eyes at Ranma, "What makes you think I'd miss it?"  
Most of the people regarded Ryoga. Funnily enough, because he was rarely around, not many people knew of him. The X-Men never actually met him even though they were aware of his role in helping defeating Ranma with the help of Shinji and Urd when Ranma had gone nuts after that epic battle against the adamantium sentinels.  
"Well, it's good that you made it," Ranma said, "We were about to leave. God forbid-"  
"Someone call my name?" Skuld jumped in.  
Ranma rolled his eyes, "Don't you get sick of that?"  
"Actually, no," Skuld giggled, "I don't get tired of saying that whenever I hear someone say 'Oh my God' or 'My God' or 'God forbid' or whatever saying with 'God' in it,"  
"You do know it's just a figure of speech," Ranma said wryly.  
"Thanks for pointing that out to me," Skuld said, "I'm sure that, despite the ability to know everything about everything just by Willing it, I would never have figured it out,"  
Ranma smirked before he turned toward Shinji, "Hey, Shinji, is there any way I can have your television? You don't need a television in your room, right?"  
Shinji gave Ranma a curious look, "Huh? You want my television?"  
"Shinji doesn't need to get rid of his television!" Skuld jumped in, realizing that if Ranma took Shinji's television, then that meant the present she got him would be utterly useless. It seemed like Ranma was aware of this bit of information as well and was using it to his advantage.  
"Hm, maybe you're right," Ranma smirked at Skuld.  
Skuld glared at Ranma but did nothing else. Ryoga, always wanting any reason to attack Ranma, punched toward Ranma's face, "Leave Skuld alone!"  
Ranma tilted his head, leaning toward the side as Ryoga's fist narrowly missed hitting him. The speed of Ryoga's attack as well as Ranma reaction to the attack surprised all the X-Men. Everyone else was used to seeing Ranma and Ryoga fight.  
"It see you've got back your old body back," Ryoga smirked.  
"Yeah," Ranma smirked, "Y'know what that means, right?"  
"Any time, any place," Ryoga said.  
"Not tonight," Akane jumped in, "Go fight another day. We plan on having a nice, uneventful dinner,"  
At least as uneventful as dinners go. People might get a surprise seeing Ton-  
Ton, Beast, and Nightcrawler with the group, but it was unlikely they would go screaming for the hills.  
"Okay," Ranma and Ryoga said dejected.  
The X-Men all looked at one another, surprised at the power Akane seemed to have over both Ranma and Ryoga. It seemed like they only listened to Akane. Little did they know that Ranma listened to her because he didn't want to get hit with her mallet. Ryoga listened to her because he was in lover with her and would never not do whatever she requested.  
Akane smiled as she seemed to take control of the reigns, "Okay, it seems like everyone's here. Let's be on our way,"  
Together, everyone headed out through the front gate. Nothing will happen tonight. No alien invasion will suddenly attack, forcing the group to take up arms to defend their own world or the world of their friends. None of them will be mysteriously thrown to a different world, forced to find their own way home or have their friends look for them. Nothing bad will happen tonight, not even a fight breaking out.  
Tonight, the night will end in the most unlikely way.  
Uneventful.  
Sometime down the line, Ranma and Ryoga will fight one another. Who wins or loses, it doesn't matter. A chain of events will occur that will result in Ryoga and Ranma ending up on a different world, them having to do the unthinkable, having to work together.  
One day, maybe their story will be told.

The end for now

Well, I guess that's it for Just Won't Die Naruto. As you can tell, most of the scenes after Ranma got back home were omake scenes. They don't really pertain much to the story but I decided to add them in because I had been meaning to write them but couldn't really think of any good places to put them in the main fic.

In some unknown location on Naruto's world, Kisame walked down the street of some nondescript village. The streets were quiet that night, no one out that night. He was contemplating the what he should now do with his life. He no longer had his unique sword and the Akatsuki Organization was no more. It was just a matter of time before he ended up in jail, the anbu from his home village finally capturing him. Afterall, he was an S-Class criminal and will forever be on the run. Without his sword to fight back, he was as good as captured. It was just a matter of time.  
"Kisame," he heard a voice, coming from behind.  
Kisame stopped dead in his tracks as he recognized that voice voice.  
"Why did you reveal to the Akatsuki my agenda?" Itachi said.  
"I-Itachi! Y-you're alive?" Kisame turned around, taking a step back as his eyes gazed on Itachi's figure.  
"Before I kill you, tell me, why did you tell the Akatsuki on me?" Itachi sneered, "Why did you tell the Akatsuki?"  
"Hold up, this is a misunderstanding," Kisame brought both hands up defensively, taking several steps back.  
"You betrayed me, hoping your betrayal would be enough to seal you a position in the Akatsuki, am I right?" Itachi hit the nail on the head, "Because of you, the Akatsuki came after me and I was eventually killed,"  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kisame lied through his teeth. It was exactly why he had told them.  
Itachi suddenly became a blur as he dashed forward. A glint of steel could be seen. Before Kisame even knew what happened, he felt heat traveling up from the center of his chest.  
He looked down where he saw Itachi standing right in front of his, holding a dagger that was plunged right into his chest. He looked down in disbelief at the dagger hilt sticking out his chest.  
He staggered backwards, tripping on his own feet and falling down to the ground. It took a few moments to realize that he had just been fatally stabbed in the heart, that his life would end briefly.  
Kisame looked up at Itachi in disbelief.  
Itachi watched Kisame with cold piercing eyes.  
Feeling the life leave him, Kisame fell backwards onto his back, staring up toward the sky.  
"So this is how it ends?" Kisame asked himself.  
"For you at least," Itachi said.  
Itachi watched as Kisame closed his eyes, dying right where he lay.  
After a good minute, the person that Kisame had mistaken for Itachi turned around and started walking away, but not before he said something to himself.  
"Itachi-niisan, may you rest peacefully,"

new stuff 11/7

"America seems retarded," Ranma said bluntly.  
"And just what's wrong with America?" Storm seemed offended at the comment.  
"Well, let's take football for instance," Ranma said, "Why does America call it soccer when it's known as football in every other part of the world? And why is football in America something completely unrelated either what football is everywhere else?"  
"America can be quirky like that," was Jean answered.  
"Actually, that's probably why most of the world can't stand American," Ranma shrugged, "America tends to think its citizens better than all others in the world,"  
"Ooh, this should be interesting," Urd snickered. Much like the way Ritsuko loved taking battle in a heated debate, Urd loved listening.  
Misato smirked as she turned toward the X-Men, "You guys are from America, what makes America so special? Most people that live in America truly believe America to be the greatest country in the world. Do you think this is true or do you think the people who claim this are just plain ignorant?"  
Cyclops jumped in, "Well, if you think about it, Ranma's comment about America being so-called retarded seems to be one born of ignorance,"  
"Oh?" Ranma perked an eyebrow. "One of America's main appeal is the freedom its citizens have," Cyclops said.  
"I guess that be why other countries in the world hate America, because they're jealous, huh?" Ranma smirked.  
"Don't go putting words in my mouth," Cyclops said.  
"Well, almost all of us are adults here," Ranma leaned back in his seat, "It should be amusing having such an adult conversation,"  
"So are you saying Japan is better than America?" Storm asked wryly.  
"Actually, it is," Skuld pointed out.  
"Hey, no fair," Ranma pointed toward Skuld, "You don't get to take part in the conversation,"  
"And why not?" Skuld shouted at Ranma. "Because you're God, stupid!" Ranma answered, "Exactly how do you expect people to debate the sayings of God?"  
The X-Men held their breath, as if expecting some horrible wrath of God to occur because Ranma called God 'stupid' right to her face. But for some odd reason, nothing happened.  
"Oh yeah," Skuld bonked the top of her head, "Nevermind. I'll just remain silent and listen,"  
"How's Japan better than America?" Jean asked curiously, clearing her throat, "Now that it's already known, it's useless that anyone try to contend that America is better,"  
Skuld said, "Oh, because I like Japan,"  
"So what you're saying is that because you like Japan, Japan is automatically better than America?" Cyclops asked.  
"Hell yeah," Ranma said, "In your world, America is considered the greatest country, right?" Ranma asked.  
"Most of its citizens think that, yes," Cyclops had to agree, "However, I'm pretty sure every citizen would think the same about their country,"  
Ritsuko decided to jump in, "While I don't have animosity toward the United States, I must say that some of that country's views seem crazy,"  
"Like what?" Beast seemed genuinely interested in hearing Ritsuko's views.  
Beast looked like his human form, a holograph emitter on his person giving off such an impression. Skuld created the device right before they left Ranma's house for the restaurant.  
"Well, for instance, America views eating dog as disgusting," Ritsuko commented, "Yet there are billions of people outside America that view it as perfectly okay. What makes America think their views is right over that of the billions of others?" "Care to take it, Beast?" Jean asked.  
"In America, dogs are considered pets," Beast said, "An attachment usually occurs with an owner and his or her pets so it's perfectly understandable that one would consider something as disgusting as eating one's own pets. For instance, it's no different than you thinking cannibalism is disgusting even though there are certain tribes that view it as perfectly acceptable,"  
"Douche," Ranma smiled.  
"It's touch ," Akane muttered toward Ranma.  
"Oh," Ranma gave a shy smile.  
"I guess that could explain why American's have no problems eating cows, even though cows are viewed as sacred creatures by the Hindu," Ritsuko said.  
"Yes," Beast said.  
"Aw, that's no fun," Ranma said, "I was hoping Ritsuko and Beast would argue against one another. It should make for interesting listening,"  
"I'll play Devil's advocate," Ritsuko said, smiling, "Okay, Beast, you do have a point. However, what makes you think creating an emotional attachment to an animal is right?"  
"Well, pets provide a sense of companionship," Beast stated, "Throughout history, people feel a sense of companionship or emotional attachment to creatures or things. It's similar to people feeling certain items present sentimental value even though those items that are non-living,"  
"So what you're saying is that as long as you don't allow such a connection to come into fruition, it would be perfectly okay?" Ritsuko asked.  
Beast scratched his chin for a moment, "Well, if you bring that into the equation, then a sense of morality become an issue. Unfortunately, morality is purely subjective. And once a sense of morality becomes an issue, society is what dictates morality,"  
Everyone could be seen trying to keep up with the conversation, some having trouble.  
"You're right, society is what makes you feel guilty or not guilty about what you do," Ritsuko nodded.  
"Yes," Beast said.  
Before long, the two of them ended up agreeing with one another.  
"Man, Ritsuko, you're not good at being a Devil's advocate in a debate," Ranma said.  
"And you can be any better?" Ritsuko asked, "While I like a good debate as much as the next person because it helps me see two sides of a view, I do have problems trying to disregard some of the things I know for the sake of argument,"  
"Fine, I'll do it," Ranma said. He scratched his chin, "Okay, here's a good debate, evolution is fake,"  
"Pardon me?" Beast seemed almost offended by such a claim, "Did I hear that correctly?"  
"Ooh, this should be interesting," Urd perked an eyebrow and the anarchy that would most likely occur from such a statement.  
"Are you saying that there is such thing as intelligent design?" Beast asked.  
Ranma pointed toward Skuld, "Yeah. We all know that God created existence. The question is...how far back?"  
Beast stopped dead in his tracks, "Hm...that's an interesting question,"  
"That's actually a good question to ask yourselves," Urd said, "Exactly when did your world become a Godless world?"  
Beast felt like he was being put on the spot, "I never actually thought of something like that,"  
Urd said, "As you know, I created your world back when I was God. However, what you don't know is when I left your world to run on auto-pilot so to speak. At what point in your world's timely do you think I left?"  
"Can you give some clues?" Beast asked, figuring he was just given the opportunity of a life-time, the opportunity to find out when his world became God-less, not that sitting down and eating with two former God and the new current God wasn't something to shake a stick at.  
Urd proceeded to provide subtle clues as to when she left the world of the X-  
Men, Beast making postulation at the rough time of when she left, all of them not even close. This went on for a good ten minutes before everyone started to realize that Beast was not going to figure it out.  
"I guess you're not gonna get it," Urd grinned, "It should be understandable because you are limited by human understanding,"  
Beast sighed, "And here I was hoping I would get it,"  
"Have you ever played a game 'Stanley and Ja-Kirbee'?" Ranma asked from out of the blue.  
"What's that?" Beast asked.  
"Nevermind," Ranma shrugged, "Figured I'd give you a clue," "What does a video game have to do with it?" Beast asked, "Are you saying I should find this game and play it to find out? Or does the name of the game have some subtle clue?"  
Ranma shrugged, "Who knows?"  
Beast continued to ask for more clues while Urd continued to be enigmatic in her answers. As Beast continued to pester Urd, the others began indulging in their own individual conversations. "Is Ranma a virgin?" Misato asked Jean as they sat next to one another.  
"What? Why are you asking me that?" Jean was taken back at being asked such a personal question.  
"Well, you have telepathy, right? Can't you use your telepathic powers to delve into Ranma's mind to find out if he's, y'know, done it with another woman?" Misato asked.  
"And why would you want to know something like that?" Jean asked.  
Jean regarded Misato for a bit. Misato seemed to be the most sexually aggressive woman she had ever met. However, it wasn't a form of aggressiveness that would label her a 'slut'. It was a quality that Jean couldn't quite figure out or label. To label her a slut would be shallow-minded of whoever who would actually even consider her one.  
"No one knows if Ranma's a virgin or not," Misato said seriously, "And no matter how much we try to poke and prod him for a definite answer, he isn't budging on the issue,"  
Jean turned her attention toward Ranma, watching him for a moment as he seemed to enjoying himself and the company around him. Storm was sitting to one side of him. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to be displaying any hostility toward him or annoyance at sitting next to someone like Ranma.  
It was known among the group that Storm found his antics offensive and annoying, but he yet to ever really act on her anger. It seemed rather strange that a strong woman like Storm would not only tolerate Ranma's antics, but would not even try to nip it in the bud.  
Ranma obviously had some kind of quality that drew women toward him. If that was the case, he could probably have any woman he wanted and there was more than a likely chance she would sleep with him. While she was in love with Cyclops, Jean had to admit that there was a couple qualities she did found more attractive on Ranma than her own husband.  
Ranma's unpredictability was a both an aggravating and attractive quality. That was probably one of the main traits that drew women to Ranma. Being around Ranma kept women on their toes because they never knew what would happen next. While all women preferred stability in a relationship over adventure, there was a quality to Ranma that gave off the impression that he could provide both stability and adventure.  
It must be his ability to deal with children, Jean thought. Women are maternal by instinct. Seeing Ranma interact with children usually made most women's heart skip a beat because he was so good with children that it gave the impression that he would be the perfect father. Perhaps that was why Storm didn't outright hate him, because deep down inside, she could not bring herself to hate him.  
Storm had once watched Ranma deal with a crying baby in the street once, while she had been on her way to the Laundromat. It was one of the most incredible things she had ever witness. Perhaps Ranma appealed to women's subconscious and instinctual side, the realization that he would make for a perfect parent should they have children.  
Cyclops, who sat next to Jean, noticed Jean staring at Ranma, "Is there a reason why you're staring at Ranma like you're trying to burn a whole through his head?"  
Jean blushed as she said, "Of course not. If that were the case, it'd probably be easier for you to do that,"  
Cyclops chuckled.  
Misato leaned in toward Jean, "So what do you think?"  
Cyclops regarded both Jean and Misato, wondering what they were talking about.  
Misato looked at Cyclops for a second before she asked Jean, "So you think there's anything on your world to alleviate menstrual cramps?"  
Cyclops immediately turned his attention away, diving back into eating his meal as he realized they were having women talk and he wanted nothing to do with it.  
Misato snickered, "There's no faster way to get a guy to stop trying to eavesdrop than to talk about women problems,"  
Jean laughed. Misato was definitely an amusing individual. She could definitely see herself getting along fine with Misato.  
"So, do you think you can find out if Ranma's a virgin?" Misato asked.  
"Well, yes, I can, but I don't intend to do so," Jean said, "It's an invasion of Ranma's privacy,"  
"Bah," Misato waved a dismissive hand, "How can you be like that when he's probably done the same to you?"  
Jean thought about that comment for a moment before realizing that it did happen. Ranma had invaded her privacy to suit his own needs. Sure, he did so just to find out what her measurements were, but that wasn't the issue.  
"You know what? Maybe I should," Jean said, more to herself than Misato, "However, why would you want to find out anyway?"  
"Well, you're happily married so I guess it's okay to tell you since I don't have to worry about you wanting to go after Ranma," Misato said.  
"I may be married but I am also a woman," Jean said. A second later, she brought her hands up over her mouth as if she couldn't believe what she said. It sounded like being married and being a woman were two different roles.  
Misato said, "Well, aren't you curious if he's a virgin or not?"  
"No," Jean said. The problem was that she now found herself curious, no thanks to Misato planting that seed of curiosity in her head.  
"What kind of woman are you?" Misato asked.  
Considering they were talking woman-to-woman, the comment seemed almost offensive, as if Misato was questioning her female nature, "And what's that supposed to mean? I'm married,"  
"Ah, so that's the reason for not being curious," Misato chuckled.  
"Yes, it is," Jean said, "That's never crossed my mind until you mentioned it. And why should it matter if he is or not? Heck, it's pretty obvious that he isn't,"  
"What? What makes you think he isn't?" Misato asked, smirking. Ritsuko had tried to hypothesize whether or not he was a virgin. If Ritsuko couldn't come up with a definite conclusion after all that researching, then Misato was very sure Jean would not know either.  
"Unless you actually slept with him or actually saw him sleep with someone, I think you're simply speculating,"  
Jean found herself almost at a loss of words, "Because...how can he not?"  
"That's speculation," Misato said.  
"Let's say that he is, why does it matter?" Jean asked.  
"That means he's a virgin," Misato grabbed Jean's arms and shook her a bit, "That means he's as pure as snow,"  
"It also means he'll be inexperienced," Jean had to add.  
Misato said, "No. If anything, he's more experienced than any man could possibly be on Earth,"  
Jean found the comment ludicrous, "Okay, I've got to hear how you came to that conclusion,"  
"Ranma used to be cursed," Misato said, "He used to be cursed to change into a woman,"  
Jean asked, "W-what?"  
"Yeah," Misato nodded, "When he was young, he used to be cursed in a way that he would change into a female when splashed with cold water and change back into a male when splashed with warm water,"  
"That's crazy," Jean said.  
"Do you not get it? That means he's the only guy with actual physical knowledge of the female body," Misato said, "No man actually has that knowledge so that means he has an edge over every guy on the planet,"  
Jean said, "Well, what about people who have had sex changes?"  
"That's not the same," Misato said, "For instance, let's say you were a guy that had a sex change into a woman. Your equipment isn't quite the same as an actual woman's. With Ranma, it'd be like a woman that changed into a guy, but the equipment is perfect,"  
Jean said, "Man, I can't believe I'm having this conversation. This is the weirdest conversation I've ever heard?"  
"What, you want me to talk to you like a white person?" Misato asked, "So, what do you think of this here weather? It's atrocious, don't you think? At least it isn't as bad as last year. Hey, how did you get here? Did you take the I-90 or the I-287?"  
"Huh?" Jean asked, "Aren't you being a bit racist?"  
"What, don't all white people talk about the weather and driving routes to certain locations?" Misato asked, "Okay, maybe that might not be the case, but I wouldn't be surprised if Cyclops ends up talking about that stuff with other married people, that you introduce him to,"  
Jean was silent for a moment, "You're just like Ranma. That's something I would expect Ranma to say,"  
"I guess I've been around Ranma for so long it's rubbing off on me," Misato said.  
"So, what would you do if it turns out he isn't a virgin?" Jean asked. She found herself wishing she had other subjects to talk about. It was either whether or not Ranma was a virgin, or what White people talk about, two very odd subjects.  
Misato said, "Then I'd go after him more. Because that means he has done it before and it would be possible to get him to do it again. However, if he isn't, that means I have to go after him as well so I could be his first,"  
Jean said nothing for a second, "If Ranma's a virgin, you're going to go after him because he's never had sex. If Ranma isn't a virgin, you're going to go after him because he has had sex,"  
"Basically," Misato nodded.  
Jean said, "Um, I don't know if you know this, but those aren't exactly good reasons," "Oh, there are other reasons also," Misato quickly said, "Y'know, reasons like I'm in love with him and want to spend the rest of my life with him and want to raise of family with him,"  
Jean was taken aback by the comment, "Oh, I didn't realized you had those reasons as well. I just figured your initial reason was your one and only reason,"  
"Nah," Misato said.  
"Has it ever occurred to you to ask him if he's a virgin or not?" Jean asked.  
"Ranma, Jean is wondering if you're a virgin," Misato called out across the table.  
The soda Cyclops was drinking shot out of his nose when he heard that. He turned toward Jean, "What?"  
Everyone around the table suddenly became quiet.  
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ranma answered before resuming his eating.  
Misato turned toward Jean, "You see? It doesn't help to ask. He always leaves you guessing,"  
"That's not the issue!" Jean said, "I never wanted to find such a thing out. Why are you making it so that it seems like I'm the one who wants to find out!"  
"Honey, what's this about?" Cyclops asked.  
Jean said, "It's nothing. Misato's messing with me. She's curious if Ranma's a virgin and wanted to make me uncomfortable, which obviously did work out that way,"  
"I'm just messing with her," Misato smiled.  
"Ah," Cyclops smiled, as if relieved.  
"You're a virgin?" Logan asked Ranma.  
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Ranma shrugged.  
Logan started laughing, "Heh, virgin, huh?"  
Every woman glared at Logan.  
"What's wrong with being a virgin?" Skuld asked first before several others asked that same question, giving indication that several of them found Logan's comment about their sexual inexperience or their sexual choice to wait to be offensive.  
"Ooh, you're screwed, Logan," Ranma burst out laughing, "This is not gonna turn out good for you,"

"Ranma you jerk!" Asuka shouted at Ranma as she chased him down the hallway in her pajamas, trying to hit him with a bokken Akane given her as a present. A portion of Asuka's face was covered with shaving cream, Ranma having decided to wake Asuka up in an amusing but aggravating manner, but putting shaving cream in one of her hands and tickling her face while she slept.  
"You were sleeping so peacefully I couldn't resist," Ranma ran through the house, laughing.  
Asuka looked ready to explode. Even though she liked receiving attention from Ranma, she didn't like this kind of attention. It was early morning and she had forgotten to set her alarm clock for school. When she didn t come downstairs, Ranma had gone up to wake her up and decided to play a funny, albeit childish, joke on her.  
"Hey, at least it worked, you're wide awake now," Ranma smiled, backpedaling while skillfully dodging her bokken swings.  
"Pervert!" Asuka called out, remembering the secret code to shout out in order to hit him. It seemed like there was something fundamentally odd with this world where women seemed to develop increased strength as well as one hundred percent accuracy with any forms of attacks or weapons as long as they said the word 'pervert' and were in melee range prior to hitting a guy. Asuka struck Ranma in the head, causing him to wince in pain.  
"No fair using that cheat!" Ranma said, as he took a leap back to dodge Asuka's second attack. He was able to dodge it because she didn't say 'Pervert' a second time.  
"Pervert!" she said again as she struck him a second time in the shoulder.  
Ranma quickly blocked the attack with his forearms but winced in pain as the attack seemed to pass right through the heavy bracers he wore and into his arms. It felt much like trying to block a baseball bat while wearing a suit of armor. The impact still passed through.  
Realizing Asuka had no problems using 'God-mode' to attack him, Ranma quickly turned tail to run out of the house.  
God-mode was the term Ranma called the temporary power bestowed upon women that wanted to hit a man after saying the word 'pervert'. To him, using that trick was basically cheating in the utmost form, like using a 'God-Mode' cheat in a video game.  
Wanting to outrun Asuka before she hit him again, he made a mad dash for the front entrance. God-Mode was proximity based so as long as he got out of melee range of Asuka, he would be safe.  
He quickly opened the front door and darted out, just as Jean and the others were walking up to the front entrance. They were there that morning to say their goodbyes before returning to their world. Jean was standing in front of the group, about to ring the doorbell when the door opened up and Ranma shot out straight toward her like lightning.  
"Oh oh!" Ranma said as he realized he was going too fast to dodge Jean.  
The two of them collided into one another, Jean tumbling backwards where they ended up toppling over everyone behind her. When the dust cleared, Ranma was lying on top of Jean while Jean on top of everyone else.  
"Ugh," Ranma muttered, his head hurting.  
"Pervert!" he heard Asuka's voice before a sharp pain shot up his back.  
"Ow!" he shouted as he quickly rolled around on the ground to see who was attacking him. His eyes widened as he saw Asuka, her face covered in shaving cream, holding a bokken high above her head as if ready to strike her opponent down.  
"Pervert!" Asuka shouted again as she tried to hit Ranma.  
Ranma quickly scooted backwards where the bokken barely missed him.  
"What the?" Asuka seemed in a state of shock, "How'd that miss? It's not supposed to miss,"  
She was within melee range and used the 'Pervert' God-code against a male opponent, so that meant it should have connected. "Asuka, what are you doing?" Ranma said, held his hands up defensively, as if ready to use telekinetic powers to prevent the bokken from striking him should Asuka try and attack again, "Why are you trying to hit me? It's me, Jean!"  
Asuka looked down at Ranma, a confused look on her face, "What did you say?"  
"Huh?" Ranma said. He looked down toward his arms and noticed bracers on them. That was strange, Jean thought. She didn't wear bracers on her forearms, "Where did these come from?"  
All of a sudden, she heard movement from behind her.  
"Ugh," came a female voice.  
Ranma turned around and looked and was shocked at what she saw. On the ground she saw what looked like an exact clone of herself as she tried to get up off Cyclops and the others.  
"What the?" Ranma said.  
Her clone got up and proceeded to dust herself, "Shit, sorry about that. I didn't realize you guys were gonna be right outside the door like that,"  
"What the heck's going on here?" Ranma asked.  
Her clone turned around toward her.  
They stared at one another. Ranma looked shocked, as if he found himself staring at a mirror image of himself even though the person in front of him was actually Jean. Ranma stared at Jean as if he though Jean was the mirror image of himself. "Jean?" the clone asked.  
"Ranma?" Ranma asked.  
After a moment, the clone pinched the bridge of her nose.  
"This can't be happening,"

"Hi, who am I speaking to?" Jean spoke into the telephone.  
Jean and the other's were in Ranma's house. Because of the sudden turn of events, Jean had taken it upon herself to call Skuld or Urd for help.  
"Peroth?" Jean asked, "Hey, this is Ranma. I know, my voice sounds differently. Something stupid happened. Anyway, is Skuld or Urd around? It's kind of important,"  
Everyone watched as Jean spoke and listened to the phone for several minutes before hanging up and sighing.  
"Looks like we're screwed for now," Jean said with a shrug.  
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ranma shouted. It was as if Jean, now in Ranma's body, wasn't used to the extra testosterone which made her more easily angry.  
"Urd and Skuld are both busy," Jean answered, "It seems like we missed the both of them. They both left Heaven to go instigate an alien invasion of a parallel world,"  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Storm asked.  
"It means there's no one around to change us back," Jean answered frankly, "The only two people that can change us back easily is Urd or Skuld,"  
"What about Luna Inverse?" Cyclops suggested, remembering the soft-spoken but wise young woman that sat with them during Friday Dinner, "Isn't she the most powerful magic user from her world? Would she and her sister, Lina, be able to help?"  
Jean said, "Yeah, but she said she and her sister were off to visit another world for a few days. Unfortunately, I have no idea which world they went to. I could ask Urd or Skuld where and they can find out for us, but alas, I can't reach them either,"  
"Well, why not call Heaven and ask them where you can find Skuld or Urd?" Cyclops asked, "That way, they can tell you where Luna and Lina are,"  
"I can't," Jean gave a sheepish smile, "I'm kinda on Heaven's, um, shitlist, so to speak. Skuld and Urd seems to have left specific instructions with Heaven not to let me know where the alien invasion is taking place outta fear that I'll go there to take part in it and ruin their plans,"  
No one said anything, the comment leaving them all speechless.  
There came a knock at the door.  
Jean walked over and opened the door to reveal Misato, Ritsuko, and Sylia.  
"Hey, guys, what brings you here?" Jean asked.  
Misato gave Jean an odd look, wondering why Jean was opening the door for Ranma, "Um, we're here for Akane,"  
Since it was the weekend, Misato and the others had come around to pick up Akane for a day out around town. "How come you're answering the door?" Misato asked, peering over Jean's shoulder, "Isn't Akane or Ranma or the others around?"  
"It's me, Ranma," Jean said, jerking a thumb toward the interior of the house, "I accidentally bumped into Jean and we switched bodies,"  
"You're kidding me, right?" Misato asked.  
Jean shrugged, "Doesn't bother me if you believe me or not,"  
The women followed Jean into the livingroom where they saw Ranma acting very odd, seemingly in a state of panic.  
"Of course I'm not calm, I'm in someone else's goddamn body!" Ranma shouted toward Cyclops, "And no, this is not like using telepathy to temporarily take control of someone. It feels so much more...pervasive,"  
"Heh," Jean chuckled.  
"Ranma! Fix this!" Ranma shouted toward Jean, "I'll be damned if I'm going to be stuck in this body for any minute longer!"  
Jean said, "And just what's wrong with my body?"  
"It's a man's body, that's what's wrong," Ranma said, "I'm a woman and I like being in a woman's body,"  
"Jean, would it be too much to ask you to masturbate into a test tube so some of us can have Ranma's child?" Misato asked from out of the blue.  
"Yes, it would be too much to ask!" Ranma said loudly, "Jeez, what's with you women?"  
"Hey, I'm being considerate," Misato said, "It's not like I asked you to have sex with me since you're married,"  
Jean raised her hand, "Um, I'm still in the room, y'know,"  
"All right, never mind that I asked,"

Lisa was in front of her computer in the livingroom browsing the Internet that morning when there came a knock on the door.  
"Come in, it's open," Lisa called out, turning around in her chair to look at the front door.  
Motoko rubbed her arm as she entered Lisa's apartment.  
"Good morning, Lisa," Motoko said.  
"Oh, hi, Motoko, what brings you here?" Lisa smiled.  
"There seems to be something wrong with this arm," Motoko commented, "Ever since you upgraded the servos in my arm, there seems to be some odd vibration,"  
Lisa sighed, "I guess you didn't bother to follow my advice about waiting a day or so before trying to test out your upgrades more rigorously. There's a break-in period, you know,"  
Lisa was a wizard at cybernetics, a quality she always possessed ever since she was young. Anything that had to do with cybernetics, Lisa was the person to go to. Even though boomers were outlawed in the world, that didn't mean her knowledge and abilities from prior to the outlawing were to be wasted.  
"I couldn't help it," Motoko said, somewhat apologetically, "I was in pursuit of a criminal yesterday,"  
Motoko was part of an elite division of AD Police that specialized in Internet-related crimes.  
Lisa's apartment was more of a personal laboratory than an actual home. While it was illegal to make boomers, it wasn't illegal to make cybernetic parts. She constantly tinkered with improving existing cybernetic parts.  
Motoko and Bateau were perfect 'guinea pigs' for her to do her testing and she had no problems with constantly upgrading their existing parts. While one may think testing out new theories in cybernetics on friends was morally unsound, Lisa was so skilled in her craft that there was no possible chance of harm befalling either of her two friends. Besides, she was used to fixing and upgrading Akane's body all the time, Akane always breaking it from constantly punching Ranma, that tinkering with cybernetic arms and such was child's play.  
"Alright, let me take a look at the damage you've done," Lisa said, actually eager to work on Motoko again. Lisa didn't work with cybernetics as much as she wanted to and was actually very happy when Ranma brought Motoko and Bateau home with him.  
She asked Motoko to take off her shirt so it would allow her for easier access to the panel located by her shoulder blades. "You should wear a bra you know," Lisa commented as she poked Motoko's breasts, "The fact that you have the body of a perfectly human female makes men want to stare at your chest. The fact that you don't wear a bra under your shirt makes them probably unable to stop staring,"  
Lisa began re-adjusting the servo motors within Motoko's arm.  
"There's no need for me to wear them," Motoko said bluntly, "Women wear bras for support, not appearance. This body doesn't need such support. It's more efficient,"  
"Um, you do know you are a woman, right?" Lisa said, smirking, "Just because you've gotten used to a cybernetic body and actually capable of being put into a male body at your discretion doesn't mean you're not a woman,"  
Motoko said nothing for a short while, "You have a point,"  
"Afterall, why else would you have a secret crush on Ryoga?" Lisa laughed.  
Motoko quickly turned toward Lisa, "And what makes you think that?"  
Lisa laughed, "The only person oblivious that you have thing for Ryoga seems to be Ranma and Ryoga,"  
Motoko said nothing, as if embarrassed.  
"Don t worry, I won't tell on you," Lisa smiled warmly, "I'm sure you'll confess to him when you feel the time is right,"  
There was a long moment of awkward silence as Motoko contemplated what to say.  
"Well, it's not like it really matters since he likes Akane," Motoko said, somewhat cold. "I guess it's a one-sided love thing," Lisa said with a shrug, "Don't worry, I know how it feels,"  
Lisa had a one-sided crush on Ranma for quite a while but somehow fell out of love with him. Perhaps it was because she loved her work in the field of computer and electronics more than Ranma and working along side Ritsuko made her realize this. Eventually, over time, she found herself simply fond of Ranma.  
"Who knows?" Motoko smirked. She found it amusing that Lisa wasn't aware that Bateau seemed to have feelings for her. Lisa constantly upgraded Bateau's cybernetic parts that he eventually started having feelings for her, mostly due in part to them spending lots of time together chit chatting to pass the time while Lisa went about upgrading his cybernetic body.  
"There, done," Lisa stepped back to admire her work.  
"You're already done?" Motoko was surprised at Lisa's efficiency.  
"You didn't damage your servos," Lisa said, "They simply needed to be re-  
adjusted. That's it,"  
There came a knock at the door.  
"Who is it?" Lisa asked.  
"It's me, Ranma," Lisa hear a female voice.  
"That sure don't sound like you," Lisa said, a bit weary.  
"No shit," came the female response, "You won't believe what happened. Let's just say I did something stupid again,"  
That was definitely Ranma's mannerism.  
Lisa stopped what she was doing and handed Motoko her shirt back, "Here, put your shirt back on,"  
Motoko simply looked at the shirt but made no effort to put it on. She didn't care about modesty so it didn't bother her at all who saw her naked, even Ranma.  
"I see no need," Motoko stated firmly, "I'm not ashamed of my body. If it bothers someone that I'm topless, it's their fault,"  
Lisa sighed as she walked over to the door and opened it. In the doorway, she found herself staring at the woman she knew as Jean Gray.  
"Jean?" Lisa asked, "Why are you doing here? Weren't you leaving for your world today?"  
She looked behind Jean and noticed Ranma as Ranma looked rather annoyed. Standing next to Ranma was Cyclops and Ryoga.  
"Lisa, you won't believe what happened," she saw Jean say in fluent Japanese, jerking a thumb toward Ranma, "Jean and I got switched bodies. Right now, I'm stuck in Jean's body and Jean's stuck in my body,"  
It took a good minute before Lisa responded, "W-what?"  
"To make a long story short, I crashed into Jean and we accidentally exchanged bodies," Jean said, "In the process, her communicator got broken and we came here to get it fixed,"  
Jean produced the broken communicator from her pocket and held if forward for Lisa to inspect.  
Lisa continued to regard the woman in front of her, basically in shock.  
"Can you fix it?" Jean asked, "Jean and Cyclops and Ryoga and I are gonna head over to another world to get this little problem fixed,"  
Motoko appeared by the doorway, now wearing her shirt, "Hi,"  
"Hello," Ryoga said, "It's nice seeing you here,"  
"Likewise," Motoko smiled warmly, "So, what brings you here?"  
"Jean...Ranma...um...I bumped into the person that is supposed to be Ranma," Ryoga answered after a moment, "We were supposed to spar today but now that this incident happened, that might be postponed,"  
"Well, it's not like it really matters since I'm sure you'll beat him," Motoko said.  
"Hey, it's not like I'm not here," Jean muttered.  
"Thanks," Ryoga smiled at Motoko's comment.  
Motoko smiled back.  
"She's acting like a schoolgirl," Lisa snicker.  
"Huh?" Jean asked.  
"It's nothing," Lisa said when she noticed Motoko stare daggers at her, "Anyway, come on in. Let me take a look at it,"  
Jean said, "Thanks,"  
Jean, Ranma, Cyclops, and Ryoga entered the apartment and went to the livingroom. Lisa checked out the communicator and noticed that it was indeed broken but could be easily fixed.  
"I can fix this," Lisa said, "It should take me a few minutes to replace the parts,"  
Lisa left the room to fix the communicator.  
"So, Motoko-chan, what brings you here?" Jean smirked.  
Realizing that only Ranma spoke like that to her, Motoko realized Ranma was telling the truth, she responding to him the way she usually did, "It's none of your business,"  
Jean shrugged, "Okay,"  
"Hey, did I see you chasing after someone yesterday?" Ryoga asked curiously.  
"Perhaps," Motoko said, wondering when Ryoga saw her. She was pretty sure she would have noticed Ryoga even while distracted chasing someone. He kind of stood out among a crowd.  
Ryoga described the person she was chasing perfectly.  
"That's right, I guess you did see me yesterday," Motoko said.  
"Did you catch him?" Ryoga asked, "I'm sure you probably did since you're so good at your job of apprehending criminals,"  
"Yes, I did," Motoko said, rubbing her arm, "However, in the process, I think I might have blown out one of the servos in my arm,"  
"Gee, it seems you have no problems telling Ryoga about your business," Jean smirked wryly.  
Motoko realized that that seemed to be the case, the she seemed to be more open around Ryoga and willing to divulge more information about herself or what she did during her day just to keep a conversation going.  
"Hey, that's actually good timing," Jean snapped her fingers.  
"What do you mean?" Motoko asked.  
"We were on our way to another world to get our bodies switched back," Jean said, "That world specializes in Alchemy,"  
"Alchemy?" Motoko asked.  
"On that world, people can not gain anything without sacrificing something," Jean said, "They must present something of equal value in order to gain something. That's the principle of equivalent trade in alchemy. Well, on that world, they seem to be on the verge of figuring out how to putting souls in a body,"  
"Wait, you intend to go to this world and have them using this Alchemy thing to have them return you to your rightful bodies?" Motoko asked.  
Jean nodded, "Yep. I recall there is some guy called the Full Metal Alchemist that seems to be very knowledgeable of soul and body transfers. It couldn't hurt to find him and ask for his help,"  
"What does that have to do with timing?" Motoko asked.  
"Well, even though that world centers around Alchemy, there exist this technology there called Auto-mail," Ranma said, "It's very much like cybernetic implants, but I heard its actually superior to our worlds cybernetics,"  
"Are you questioning my abilities?" Lisa asked as she entered the livingroom, now with a fully repaired communicator in her hands.  
"Jeez, that was quick," Jean stated.  
"It was simple to fix," Lisa stated, "So, as you were saying, this Auto-mail is better than this world's cybernetic parts?"  
Jean nodded, "To the best of my knowledge, yes,"  
"Interesting," Lisa said.  
"How about you come with us?" Jean asked, "You can learn up on this technology. Perhaps you might like it and derive future cybernetic parts from it,"  
Lisa scratched her chin, deep in thought, "That sounds really interesting, but I think I'm going to have to pass. I like my own style of cybernetics and don't wish to copy or steal from other worlds,"  
"Hm, I guess that's a good reason," Jean said.  
Lisa cast a glance toward Ryoga before casting a glance toward Motoko, "Motoko, you should go with them though,"  
"Me?" Motoko was surprised at the suggestion.  
"Are all of you going?" Lisa asked Jean.  
Jean nodded, "Everyone you see here is going, yes,"  
"So that means you're going, Ryoga?" Lisa asked.  
"I guess so," Ryoga said, "Once Ranma gets his body back, I want to spar him. I don't want him to run out on our duel,"  
"Jeez, I'm not gonna run out on ya," Jean threw her hands up in the air, "Fine. Whatever. Come along. I don't care,"  
"So, how about it?" Lisa grinned at Motoko, "How about you go in my stead?"  
"Um..." Motoko seemed hesitant.  
"Actually, I demand you go," Lisa felt the need to play matchmaker, "I've upgraded your body many times without any favors in return. As a favor, I want you to go with them to their world and bring back what you learned about this Auto-Mail stuff,"  
"That sounds odd, a second ago, you said you weren't interested," Jean said.  
"I changed my mind," Lisa said.  
"Okay," Jean shrugged.  
Jean and the others got up off the couch.  
"Well, thanks for your help," Jean said, producing the nanban mirror from her pocket, "I guess it's best we be on our way. Adventure, here we come,"  
Motoko cast Lisa a glance before she walked over to where Jean was. Lisa gave her the thumbs up. The fact that Motoko didn't seem angry at Lisa's sudden request for her to go with them made Lisa realize that Motoko seemed to not mind going with them since Ryoga was part of the group.  
Lisa watched as Jean shed a tear onto the nanban mirror where they became enveloped in a bright light, disappearing from sight a second later.  
She giggled to herself.  
"Hm, Ranma, Ryoga, Motoko, Jean, and Cyclops, together on some adventures. That should be an interesting story to listen to when they get back,"

End 


End file.
